Amid a scary US defence intelligence report that North Korea might have the knowhow to deliver a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead, President Barack Obama has asked Pyongyang to stop its belligerent approach, warning it that he would “take all necessary steps” to protect American citizens.
In what was his public comments on the veiled threats that have been coming out from the reclusive communist nation over the past few weeks, Obama said it was “time for North Korea to end the kind of belligerent approach that they’ve been taking, and to try to lower body temperatures”.
“Nobody wants to see a conflict on the Korean peninsula,” Obama said after a meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Oval Office, but added grimly: “It’s important for North Korea, like every other country in the world, to observe the basic rules and norms that are set forth, including a wide variety of UN resolutions that have passed.”
“We will continue to try to work to resolve some of those issues diplomatically, even as I indicated to the Secretary-General that United States will take all necessary steps to protect its people and to meet our obligations under our alliances in the region,” Obama said.
In a day of swift developments, US officials sought to downplay a Pentagon intelligence assessment that North Korea might have achieved the capability to fire a nuclear-tipped missile after the matter was brought up by a lawmaker. And, even as Obama and Ban held consultations, Secretary of State John Kerry was bound for Seoul on a mission to reassure South Korea and other allies in the region.
The UN chief, sharing the “grave concern” over the continuing tensions on the Korean peninsula, said: “I urge the DPRK authorities to refrain from making any further provocative (inaudible) and rhetoric. This is not helpful.” Ban commended Obama’s “firm, principled, but measured response in close consultation with the Republic of Korea government and with strong engagement with neighbouring countries like China”.
The possibility of North Korea loading nukes on missiles was raised by Republican lawmaker Doug lamborn during a Congressional hearing on Thursday, reading out an unclassified paragraph in an otherwise secret Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) report made available to some lawmakers.
Hours later, the Pentagon distanced itself from some of lamborn’s assertions, with spokesman George little noting in a statement: “While I cannot speak to all the details of a report that is classified in its entirety, it would be inaccurate to suggest that the North Korean regime has fully tested, developed or demonstrated the kinds of nuclear capabilities referenced.”
Following the alarm that was set off by the DIA report, National Intelligence Director James R. Clapper also issued a statement on Thursday night saying there was no consensus within the US intelligence community over the DIA assessment.
“North Korea has not yet demonstrated the full range of capabilities necessary for a nuclear armed missile,” Clapper said at the end of a day that was dominated by escalating concerns across the American media.
In Seoul, Kerry dismissed as “unacceptable” the bellicose warnings by North Korea in recent weeks. “The rhetoric we are hearing from North Korea is simply unacceptable by any standard. We are all united in the fact that North Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power,” Kerry was quoted as saying after his meetings with South Korean President Park Geun-hye and leaders of the 28,000-strong US military contingent deployed in that country.