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US special envoy on North Korea says war is still an option, but we're not yet close to fighting
KCNA/via REUTERS
The US special envoy on North Korea said all options remained on the table for solving the nuclear standoff with Pyongyang, but that he did not think the military option was close.
"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," he said.
"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."
TOKYO (Reuters) - The U.S. special envoy on North Korea on Thursday said all options remained on the table for solving the nuclear standoff with the reclusive country but that he did not think the military option was close.
Joseph Yun, speaking to reporters in the Japanese capital, said the United States was seeking a peaceful resolution of the crisis 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 said.
"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."
He was speaking one day after U.S. President Trump, branding North Korea's leadership "depraved", said that Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear missiles could 'very soon threaten' the American homeland and vowed to prevent that.
Trump offered no new specifics on how he intended to rein in North Korea. While Trump's administration says it prefers a diplomatic solution to the crisis over North Korea's development of weapons capable of hitting the United States, it says all options are on the table, including military ones.
Early in January, North and South Korea launched rare talks to bring North Koreans to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics after the North’s leader Kim Jong Un said he was willing to open up discussions with Seoul.
Yun welcomed the North-South dialogue and said he hoped it was a sign of things to come, but he said that any talks with Washington would have to "be about steps North Korea would take toward denuclearisation".
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