US wants diplomatic end to North Korea crisis: Mattis

SEOUL — The United States wants a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis, Defence Secretary James Mattis said yesterday, as China warned that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is now very dangerous and there would be “no winners” in a war.

Tensions have soared after Pyongyang claimed the US had declared war against it and threatened to shoot down US bombers, in an escalating spat between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. North Korea has boosted its coastal defence after US bombers flew close to the Korean Peninsula at the weekend.

“North Korea relocated its warplanes and strengthened defences along the east coast,” said Mr Lee Cheol-uoo, chief of South Korea National Assembly’s intelligence committee, yesterday.

But the US’ top military officer, General Joseph Dunford, said he had not seen Pyongyang change its military posture.

“While the political space is clearly very charged right now, we haven’t seen a change in the posture of North Korean forces and we watch that very closely,” Gen Dunford, chairman of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday for his reappointment. “What we haven’t seen is military activity that would be reflective of the charged political environment.”

Mr Mattis said diplomatic efforts to tackle the crisis are continuing.

“We maintain the capability to deter North Korea’s most dangerous threats, but also to back up our diplomats in a manner that keeps this as long as possible in the diplomatic realm,” he said. “Our goal is to solve this diplomatically.’’

The North’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho had on Monday called a press conference to hit back at a US bomber mission near the North’s coastline and a slew of bombastic warnings from the American president.

Taking umbrage at Mr Trump’s weekend tweet that North Korea’s leadership “won’t be around much longer” if it keeps up its threats, Mr Ri told reporters: “He declared a war on our country.” He added that Pyongyang had the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down US bombers even when they are not in North Korean territory.

The White House said Mr Ri’s interpretation of Mr Trump’s sabre-rattling was “absurd”, while a Pentagon spokesman stressed that the US bombers involved in the weekend’s mission flew in international airspace and had every right to do so.

The heated rhetoric between both sides has raised fears that a miscalculation could accidentally trigger a war, with China warning yesterday that any conflict would have “no winners”.

“We hope the US and North Korean politicians have sufficient political judgment to realise that resorting to military force will never be a viable way to resolve the peninsula issue and their own concerns,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

“We also hope that both sides can realise that being bent on assertiveness and provoking each other will only increase the risk of conflict and reduce room for policy manoeuvres. War on the peninsula will have no winner.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, speaking on the sidelines of a United Nations meeting in New York, said the situation on the Korean Peninsula was at a very dangerous stage. The urgent task was to prevent North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes from progressing and to especially prevent resorting to arms, Mr Wang added.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in cautioned that the security situation on the peninsula was now “more serious than ever”, though he added there was still a chance for dialogue.

The tensions led to Asian stock markets mostly falling yesterday, with safe-haven assets such as gold and the yen finding favour with investors. AGENCIES