Washington’s goal “is not war” as it seeks to ease high military tension with Pyongyang, US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Friday, standing at the heavily-fortified border between the two Koreas. Tension has flared on the Korean peninsula as US President Donald Trump and the North’s ruler Kim Jong-Un have traded threats of war […]
Washington’s goal “is not war” as it seeks to ease high military tension with Pyongyang, US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Friday, standing at the heavily-fortified border between the two Koreas. Tension has flared on the Korean peninsula as US President Donald Trump and the North’s ruler Kim Jong-Un have traded threats of war and personal insults that sparked global alarm, AFP reported. But Mattis, who visited the tense Demilitarized Zone during a trip to South Korea, said the US was committed to a “diplomatic solution”. “As the US Secretary of State Tillerson made clear, our goal is not war but rather the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” he said in the truce village of Panmunjom. Mattis also stressed he and his South Korean counterpart Song Young-Moo had “made clear our mutual commitment to a diplomatic solution to address North Korea’s reckless, outlaw behavior”. The remark came a day after Mattis had said Washington was “not rushing to war” and was looking for a “peaceful resolution”.
