The United States' top two diplomats – Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and US State Secretary Rex Tillerson – made dissonant comments on the North Korean issue on Sunday, on the one hand saying Washington is not seeking the regime in Pyongyang to collapse and on the other , that they may deal with the DPRK using military force.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Speaking in an interview with CBS, Tillerson said Washington is not seeking regime change in North Korea, all efforts are aimed at bringing Pyongyang to the negotiation table.
"We do not seek regime change, we do not seek a regime collapse, we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula and we do not seek a reason to send our forces north of the demilitarized zone," Tillerson said, noting that military option may be used if the talks fail.
In a separate interview, US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley claimed Washington has done everything it could to address the North Korean issue in the UN Security Council, but Washington still has "plenty of military options" which could be used by Pentagon.
The diplomat stressed that if North Korea kept with "reckless behavior", the Untied States would have to defend itself and its allies. In this scenario North Korea would be "destroyed", Haley added.
"None of us want war, but we also have to look at the fact that you are dealing with someone who is being reckless, irresponsible, and is continuing to give threats, not only to the United States but to all of their allies, so something is going to have to be done. We're trying every other possibility that we have, but there is a whole lot of military options on the table," she explained.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted its toughest resolution yet against North Korea over its latest nuclear test on September 3 and repeated missile launches, which restricts oil exports to Pyongyang, bans imports of textile products from the Asian nation as well as the country's access to gas liquids among other restrictions. However, just three days after the resolution was adopted, North Korea launched a ballistic missile that flew over Japan and traveled a total of 3,700 kilometers (2,299 miles), which made it a missile capable of reaching Guam, where US military bases are located.
This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.