Asserting that it has “many options”, the Trump administration has warned North Korea that “any threat to the United States or its territory, including Guam or our allies, will be met with a massive military response” that would be both “effective and overwhelming”. The warning was held out by US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis after a national security meeting called by President Donald Trump on Sunday to deal with Pyongyang’s latest nuclear “provocation”, raising the stakes for several nations, including the United States.
Mattis said, “We have many military options. The president wanted to be briefed on each one of them.”
“We made clear that we have the ability to defend ourselves and our allies, South Korea and Japan, from any attack. And our commitment among the allies is ironclad: Any threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam, or our allies will be met with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming,” he said.
The Pentagon chief said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “should take heed of the United Nations Security Council’s unified voice”, noting that all members are unanimously agreed on the threat that Pyongyang poses. All are committed to de-nuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula “because we are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea”, he added.
Meanwhile, the US at an UN Security Council meet called for “strongest possible” measures against North Korea in the wake of a powerful nuclear test and warned that every nation that does business with Pyongyang and is aiding its “dangerous” nuclear intentions will be on its radar.
President Trump, meanwhile, had a telephone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss North Korea’s “claimed test of a hydrogen bomb”. “The two leaders condemned North Korea’s continued destabilising and provocative actions, confirmed the two countries’ ironclad mutual defense commitments, and pledged to continue close cooperation,” a White House readout said later, adding, “President Trump reaffirmed the commitment of the United States to defending our homeland, territories, and allies using the full range of diplomatic, conventional, and nuclear capabilities at our disposal.”