U.S. General and South Korean Leader Push for Diplomacy on North Korea
In a statement denouncing annual joint exercises between the United States and South Korean militaries, which are scheduled to begin on Aug. 21, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency warned
that a second Korean War would be a "nuclear war." "Even if no one wanted it, they would not be able to prevent a mere accidental spark from triggering a war," the statement said.
14, 2017
SEOUL, South Korea — Emphasizing diplomacy and sanctions over war, the top American general and South Korea’s president said on Monday
that they hoped to avoid armed conflict with North Korea, as China vowed to enforce new United Nations penalties.
In a meeting with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, whose country has been alarmed by Mr. Trump’s threats, Gen.
Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said military options were a last resort.
Without mentioning Mr. Trump’s "fire and fury" and "lock and load" threats to North Korea, they wrote
that the administration was applying "diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to achieve the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and a dismantling of the regime’s ballistic-missile programs." Before the meeting with General Dunford, Mr.
The developments suggested that officials of the United States, South Korea
and China are seeking to emphasize a message in Asia of lowering tensions after President Trump’s apocalyptic threats last week over North Korea’s missile and nuclear testing.
"The United States military’s priority is to support our government’s efforts to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through diplomatic
and economic pressure," General Dunford was quoted as saying in a Korean-language statement released by Mr. Moon’s office after the meeting.
An editorial in the paper warned that the joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea would only make the situation worse.