US Defense chief Jim Mattis said America favored a diplomatic solution to North Korea's nuclear program. Mattis is on his second visit to South Korea as Pentagon boss amid rising tensions between US and the North.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/J.Yeon-Je
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US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Friday visited the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas.
Mattis reiterated that the United States' goal was not to wage a war with North Korea but to diplomatically convince its leader to halt the country's nuclear program.
"North Korean provocations continue to threaten regional and global security despite unanimous condemnation by the United Nations Security Council," Mattis said in prepared remarks.
"As Secretary of State Tillerson has made clear, our goal is not war, but rather the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."
Standing alongside Mattis, South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo said Pyongyang would face a strong retaliation from the combined force of South Korea and the US if it chooses to use its nuclear and ballistic missiles.
"We together will continue to defend peace through strong will and strong might," he said.
Tensions between the US and North Korea have remained high after a series of weapons tests and threats by Pyongyang, which sparked a chain of threatening verbal exchanges between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, where Trump threatened to rain "fire and fury" on the North.
This is Mattis' second visit to the Korean peninsula as Trump's defense chief and comes ahead of Trump's visit to Seoul next month.
Mattis accused Pyongyang of building a nuclear arsenal to "threaten others with catastrophe," and termed the North "an oppressive regime that shackles its people, denying their freedom, their welfare and their human dignity in pursuit of nuclear weapons."
Mattis said while the US was in favor of a diplomatic solution to North Korea's nuclear program, it was prepared to take military action if the North did not rein in its nuclear ambitions.
Mattis, who arrived in South Korea earlier Friday, will meet with South Korean officials as part of annual ministerial talks on defense issues on the Korean peninsula.
In a bid to continue building pressure on Pyongyang, the US on Thursday imposed sanctions on 10 North Korean officials and organizations for "flagrant" human rights abuses, including a diplomat in China accused of forcing North Korean asylum seekers home.
ap/ng (Reuters, AP, dpa)
North Korea's history of taking US prisoners
The parents of US tourist Otto Warmbier, who died after being imprisoned in North Korea, say he was tortured. His case is an extreme example when compared to other US citizens who have been held captive by Pyongyang.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot
'Crimes against the state'
In 2016, US student Otto Warmbier was arrested for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster as a "trophy." He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for "crimes against the state." In June 2017, he was returned by North Korea to the US in a coma and died a week later. What happened to him in captivity is a mystery. His death prompted a ban on US citizens traveling to North Korea.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/MAXPPP
'Subversion and espionage'
Kim Dong Chul, a South Korea-born US citizen, was sentenced in 2015 to 10 years hard labor for "subversion and espionage" after North Korean officials said he received a USB stick containing nuclear-linked and military secrets from a South Korean source in North Korea. Chul was arrested while visiting the special economic zone of Rason. He remains imprisoned and his condition is unknown.
Image: Reuters/KCNA
'Trying to overthrow the regime'
In 2013, North Korea sentenced US citizen Kenneth Bae to 15 years hard labor for "crimes against the state." He was arrested while on a tour group in the port city of Rason. A North Korean court described Bae as a militant Christian evangelist. He was allowed to talk to the media once, and said he was forced to work eight hours a day and was in poor health. Bae was released in November 2014.
Image: Reuters/KCNA
'Rash behavior' and 'hostile acts'
In 2013, US citizen Matthew Miller was arrested when he arrived in Pyongyang and reportedly tore up his US passport, demanding asylum in North Korea. He was later sentenced to six years of hard labor on charges of espionage. The court said Miller had a "wild ambition" to experience prison life so that he could secretly investigate North Korea's human rights situation. He was released in 2014.
Image: Reuters/KCNA
'Criminal involved in killing civilians'
In 2013, Merrill Newman an 85-year-old Korean War US Army veteran, was detained for one month in North Korea. Arrested as he was departing, he was accused of "masterminding espionage and subversive activities." He was freed after he expressed "sincere repentance" and read a statement that said he was "guilty of a long list of indelible crimes against the DPRK government and Korean people."
Image: Reuters
Freed by a diplomatic gesture
US journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling were captured in 2009 after briefly entering North Korea to report on refugees. After a month in confinement, they were sentenced to 12 years hard labor for "illegal entry and "hostile acts." Two months later, after former US President Bill Clinton met with former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, the two women were pardoned and freed.
