Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the Trump administration’s diplomatic strategy on North Korea is «gaining traction.»<\/b>
\n\u201cMy responsibility is to have military options should they be needed. However, right now \u2026 you can see the American effort is diplomatically-led, it has diplomatic traction, it is gaining diplomatic results, and I want to stay right there, right now, \u201d he said.
\u201cThe tragedy of war is well-enough known, it doesn\u2019 t need another characterization in the fact that it would be catastrophic, \u201d he added.
Mattis cited as evidence that diplomacy was gaining traction last week\u2019s successful U. S.-led effort to get the United Nations Security Council to vote on tougher sanctions against North Korea. The sanctions \u2014 if applied fully \u2014 will affect a third of the regime\u2019s income.
\u201cHow often do you see France and China, Russia, the United States, and I could go on. How often do you see them voting unanimously on any issue?\u201d he said to a group of journalists gathered in Silicon Valley where he is traveling as part of a technology-focused trip.
\u201cAnd you saw that last weekend. So the diplomats and the intelligence community I think have characterized it quite accurately \u2014 and you see that diplomatically-led effort to get this under control gaining traction because of that danger, \u201d he said.
The war of words between North Korea and the U. S. heated up after the Washington Post published a story that said North Korea can now miniaturize a warhead on top of a missile \u2014 a capability that brings the regime a step closer to producing a nuclear weapon that can hit the U. S.
Asked about the report, Trump on Tuesday said North Korea would \u201cbe met with fire and fury like the world has never seen\u201d if it continued to make threats to the U. S.
On Wednesday, North Korea threatened to conduct missile tests around Guam. Mattis then warned North Korea to cease considering actions that would lead to the destruction of its regime and people.
But Mattis said while the administration does have military options to deal with North Korea, it is prioritizing the diplomatic track.
\u201cI think the most important thing is to recognize, if you\u2019 re going to an objective down the track, and you want to take your vehicle and your train down the track, you need two rails. And we have two rails that are mutually supporting, \u201d he said.
\u201cRight now, we put diplomatic track out in front, and that is aligning allies, it\u2019s bringing onboard people who often don\u2019 t agree on all issues. You see that keenly in various arguments, \u201d he said.
\u201cBut again, what you saw last weekend, led by [U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley] and her very effective U. S. United Nations team, was a consensus, a unanimous opinion this is a threat to world peace, to global order, and it\u2019s aligning the United Nations and very serious sanctions, \u201d he said.
\u201cI would just tell you that didn\u2019 t just happen by accident. That shows where the Trump administration goes in terms of the prioritizing of the threat, but also on how to deal with it in a diplomatically effective manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

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