TOKYO: A US special envoy said on Thursday all options remain on the table for solving the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear missile program but that he did not think the Trump administration was close to triggering military action.
Joseph Yun, the US special envoy on North Korea, said the United States was seeking a peaceful resolution and diplomacy was its preferred option.
“Our policy is very much for the peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear crisis. We’ve said over and over again that what we want to see is dialogue,” Yun told reporters in Tokyo.
“Having said that, we also have said that all options are on the table and by all options, it has to include military options,” he said. “I don’t believe we are close to it.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has refused to give up development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States in spite of increasingly severe UN sanctions, raising fears of a new war on the Korean peninsula.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said it prefers a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
However, Trump has exchanged insults and threats with Kim and US officials have said he and his advisers have discussed a preventative “bloody nose” strike on North Korea, alarming experts who warn that this could trigger catastrophic retaliation, especially on South Korea.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump branded North Korea’s leadership as “depraved” and said that Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear missiles could “very soon threaten” the American homeland.
Trump vowed to prevent that, but offered no new specifics on how he intended to rein in North Korea.
On Tuesday, the White House said it was no longer considering Victor Cha, a former official who has questioned the wisdom of a preventative strike, for the post of the next US ambassador to South Korea.
Cha said on Tuesday such a strike carried a huge risk of escalating into a war that could kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.
US officials have said the debate on military action has lost some momentum as a result of rare talks between North and South Korea launched last month to bring North Koreans to this month’s Winter Olympics in the South.
Yun welcomed the North-South dialogue and hoped it was a trend of things to come but said any talks with Washington would have to “be about steps North Korea would take toward denuclearization.”
Envoy believes US not close to military option against N.Korea
Envoy believes US not close to military option against N.Korea
Canada PM Carney says can’t rule out military participation in Iran war
- Carney had said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were “inconsistent with international law”
- However, he supports the efforts to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon
CANBERRA, Australia: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that he couldn’t rule out his country’s military participation in the escalating war in the Middle East.
Carney’s visit to Australia this week has been overshadowed by expanding war in the Middle East, sparked by a massive US-Israeli strike on Iran that killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Speaking alongside local counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra, Carney was asked whether there was a situation in which Canada would get involved.
“One can never categorically rule out participation,” he said, while stressing the question was a “hypothetical” one.
“We will stand by our allies,” said Carney, adding that “we will always defend Canadians.”
Carney had said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were “inconsistent with international law.”
However, he supports the efforts to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — a position that Canada takes “with regret” as it represented “another example of the failure of the international order.”
The Canadian leader reiterated on Thursday his call for a “de-escalation” of the conflict.
Carney’s trip is part of a multi-country tour of the Asia-Pacific aimed at reducing reliance on the United States — a hedge against what he has described as a fading US-led global order.
The Australia leg of the tour is aimed at bringing in investment and deepening ties with a like-minded “middle power” partner.
‘Middle power’ rallying cry
On Thursday morning he issued a rallying cry in Australia’s parliament to “middle powers,” urging them to work together in an increasingly hegemonic world order.
Nations like Australia and Canada faced a stark choice — work together to help write the “new rules” of the global order or have great powers do it for them, he said.
“In this brave new world, middle powers cannot simply build higher walls and retreat behind them. We must work together,” he said.
“Great powers can compel, but compulsion comes with costs, both reputational and financial,” the former central banker added.
“Middle powers like Australia and Canada hold this rare convening power because others know we mean what we say and we will match our values with our actions.”
The Canadian leader also said the two countries would together as “strategic collaborators” to pool their vast combined rare earth mineral resources.
And he detailed renewed cooperation in areas from defense to artificial intelligence.
“We know we must work with others who share our values to build solid capabilities,” he told parliament.
Otherwise, he warned, they risked being “caught between the hyperscalers and the hegemons.”
The Canadian leader has frequently clashed with US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to annex Canada and slapped swingeing tariffs on the country.
In a speech to political and financial elites at the World Economic Forum in January, Carney warned the US?led global system of governance was enduring “a rupture.”
