United States Defense Secretary, James Mattis, on Sunday
said North Korea can expect a “massive military response” for pushing the
country to the edge.
It re-echoed its warning following North Korea’s latest
threat against US territory of Guam and other America’s allies.
White House said the president emphasized the range of
retaliatory measures available to the US, including nuclear weapons, in a
conversation earlier with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Mattis, Trump and the president’s top advisers met at the
White House Sunday about North Korea’s announced hydrogen bomb test.
The Pentagon chief told reporters that the US is not looking
for the “total annihilation” of North Korea, but “we have many options to do
so.”
“Secretary Mattis expressed the only viable option in his
statement, which is a firm and clear deterrent policy toward North Korea,” said
Hoover Institution Fellow Michael Auslin.
Auslin, however, told VOA the goal of North Korea’s
denuclearization, which Mattis also repeated Sunday, is unrealizable.
“Continuing to insist on denuclearization means further
rounds of negotiations, and the past quarter-century has shown that
negotiations do not work,” he says.
“The Trump administration has the opportunity to chart a
new, more realistic course for U.S. policy, but not if it adopts the failed
policies and goals of previous administrations.”
By Wale Odunsi
