Mattis called the nascent talks between North and South Korea \u201ca positive indicator,\u201d but said it was too early to determine Kim Jong Un’s intent.<\/b>
\nThere is no indication that North Korea reacted after the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency mistakenly sent an alert Saturday warning of an imminent ballistic missile strike against the islands, U. S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Monday.
On Saturday morning local time, thousands of tourists and residents in Hawaii received mobile alerts on their phones that a missile would soon be impacting the state. With tensions high over the regime’s ballistic missile program and President Donald Trump recently warning North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, that he has the bigger «nuclear button,» the false alarm prompted panic that Hawaii was the target of an attack from North Korea.
Although state officials were told by U. S. Pacific Command that the warning was sent in error, Hawaii’s EMA didn\u2019t correct the faulty message for 38 terrifying minutes.
Asked by NBC News if Kim reacted to the false alarm, Mattis said, \u201cNo. There is no information like that that I have.\u201d
Speaking with two reporters aboard a military aircraft en route to a diplomatic summit on the rogue nation in Vancouver, Canada, Mattis also said there wasn\u2019t any sign that North and South Korea used their newly reactivated communications hotline to clarify that North Korea had not, in fact, fired upon the U. S. territory.
Mattis also expressed confidence that authorities in Hawaii would fix their warning system after the ensuing distress over the false alert turned to anger .
\u201cThe state of Hawaii has taken full ownership of the problem. I think that they\u2019ll figure it out,\u201d Mattis said. \u201cI am confident they have good people there in the state government and they\u2019ll figure out what went wrong and they will put procedures in place.\u201d
The Pentagon chief is participating in the summit of foreign ministers in Vancouver to clarify and elaborate what sort of military options could be used if the diplomatic pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions fails. The United Nations Security Council has passed three rounds of sanctions against North Korea for testing ballistic missiles and, in November, an underground nuclear weapon.
\u201cThe whole point is to reinforce the diplomatic options and to show that there are military options should there be a DPRK attack,\u201d Mattis said, referring to North Korea by the country’s official initials, which stand for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
\u201cWe\u2019ll show them that there are military options,\u201d he added. \u201cBut it is all couched within a framework of strengthening the diplomat\u2019s hands.\u201d
Earlier this year, North and South Korea used a communications hotline for the first time in two years. As a result of initial moves, the North may send an ice-skating delegation to the winter Olympics, hosted by South Korea next month, as well as a 140-member orchestra.
Trump has said he is open to U. S. talks with North Korea at \u201cthe appropriate time.\u201d
On Monday, Mattis called the nascent talks between North and South Korea \u201ca positive indicator,\u201d but said it was too early to determine Kim’s intent.
\u201cI don\u2019t think we have sufficient data to say what this indicates as far as the way forward by the Kim regime,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just don\u2019t have enough data yet, but I think it is a positive indicator.\u201d<\/p>\n