Page 2 - aruba-today-20171028

A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 28 OctOber 2017

Pentagon: Not just China: US seeks Russia’s

Mattis stresses diplomacy in Korean crisis help, too, with North Korea crisis
By M. PENNINGTON
By ROBERT BURNS 1953, Mattis quoted Sec- ficult times, and we stick to- Associated Press
AP National Security Writer retary of State Rex Tillerson gether today,” Mattis said WASHINGTON (AP) — China’s increasingly icy posture
PANMUNJOM, Korea (AP) as saying, “Our goal is not inside a Demilitarized Zone is thrusting Russia forward as North Korea’s preferred
— On his first visit to the war.” The aim, he said, is of craggy terrain, millions diplomatic partner, forcing the Trump administration to
tense but eerily quiet fron- to compel the North to of landmines and ghost-like turn to Moscow for help in isolating the rogue, nuclear-
tier between North and completely and irreversibly reminders of the war.
armed nation.
Beijing’s close ties to Pyongyang have been strained
since leader Kim Jong Un ordered the 2013 execution
of his uncle who had been the countries’ chief liaison.
Since then, the allies once said to be as “close as lips
and teeth” have moved further apart over China’s
adoption of U.N. sanctions designed to starve North Ko-
rea of revenue for its nuclear and missile programs.
But China isn’t North Korea’s only traditionally friendly
neighbor. And for the United States, Russia’s increased
importance comes at an uncomfortable time. The State
Department on Friday warned countries and compa-
nies around the world they risk being blacklisted if they
do business with dozens of Russian firms. Investigations
also continue into allegations Russia interfered in last
year’s U.S. presidential election.
“Russia could play a useful diplomatic role,” Joseph
Yun, the U.S. envoy to North Korea, said in an Associat-
ed Press interview. “If Russia delivers a unified message
with the U.S., China, South Korea and Japan that the
U.S. is not interested in regime change but rather we
want to resolve the WMD issue, they can help better
than anyone else to convince them of that.”
Yun said he and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson want
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, center, and South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo, Moscow to support the international pressure cam-
left, visit Observation Post Ouellette in Paju near the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized paign against North Korea by implementing U.N sanc-
Zone (DMZ) on the border between North and South Korea Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. tions, and to urge the isolated, often inscrutable gov-
(Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP) ernment to engage in diplomatic efforts. Washington
also wants to prevent transfers of weapons technology,
South Korea as U.S. secre- eliminate a nuclear weap- The U.S. has about 28,500 amid disputed assessments that North Korea may have
tary of defense, Jim Mat- ons program that has ac- troops based in South Ko- acquired a high-performance missile engine through il-
tis conveyed the message celerated since President rea and has maintained licit networks in Russia or Ukraine.
he hopes will win the day: Donald Trump took office. a military presence there Like China, Russia has urged a peaceful resolution as
Diplomacy is the answer Despite unanimous con- since the Korean War end- Kim and President Donald Trump trade personal insults
to ending the nuclear crisis demnation by the U.N. Se- ed. Mattis’s counterpart, and threats of war. CIA Director Mike Pompeo recently
with the North, not war. curity Council of the North’s Song, gave the former said Pyongyang is only months away from a nuclear-
He made the point over missile launches and nucle- four-star Marine general tipped missile that could strike the United States, a time-
and over - at the Panmun- ar tests, “provocations con- the lay of the land, not- line that has raised American alarm and escalated
jom “truce village” where tinue,” Mattis said. ing that the North has 342 fears of a resumption of the 1950-53 Korean War.
North literally meets South; As Mattis arrived at Pan- long-range artillery pieces In the meantime, Russia has cast itself as a potential go-
at a military observation munjom alongside South aimed at Seoul, among between.
post inside the Demilita- Korean Defense Minister other weapons. That’s a Choe Son-hui, director-general of the North America
rized Zone, and in off-the Song Young-moo, a small threat that cannot be de- bureau at North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, has visited
cuff comments to U.S. and group of apparent tourists fended against, Song said, Moscow twice in the past month — most recently to
South Korean troops. watched from the balcony so Washington and Seoul attend a nonproliferation conference where she spoke
“We’re doing everything of a building on North Ko- must come up with “new on a panel alongside a nongovernmental American
we can to solve this diplo- rea’s side of the line that offensive concepts” to be expert and a senior Russian diplomat. Russian Foreign
matically - everything we marks the inter-Korean able to eliminate the artil- Minister Sergey Lavrov opened the event. Choe also
can,” he told the troops border. Uniformed North lery before it can be used, met with Russia’s ambassador to North Korea in Pyong-
after alighting from a Black Korean guards watched should war break out. yang last month.
Hawk helicopter that had silently as Mattis and Song He noted that earlier this “They seem to be communicating, which is good,” Yun
ferried him to and from the stood just yards away. Atop week in the Philippines, he said.
border some 25 miles north Observation Post Ouellette, and Song joined Southeast Suzanne DiMaggio, the American expert who sat on
of central Seoul. where he could see deep Asian defense ministers in the panel with Choe, said: “If you look at all the major
“Ultimately, our diplomats into North Korea and hear committing to a diplomatic players in this crisis, the only one with a working relation-
have to be backed up by their broadcast taunts of solution to the North Ko- ship with Pyongyang is Moscow.”
strong soldiers and sailors, the South, Mattis listened to rea problem, even though “Moscow appears to be positioning itself to play an
airmen and Marines,” he Song recount some of the Pyongyang and its young intermediary role,” she said. “Whether that’s looked
added, “so they speak history of the 1950-53 Kore- leader, Kim Jong Un, show upon favorably by the U.S. administration remains to be
from a position of strength, an war in which thousands no interest in negotiations. seen.”
of combined strength, of of Americans and perhaps Two other developments Choe told the conference that North Korea wants to
alliance strength, shoulder more than a million Kore- Thursday showed the U.S. develop its nuclear and missile capabilities until they
to shoulder.” ans died in a conflict that intention to continue build- reach a “balance of power” with the United States. But
At Panmunjom, where the remains officially unsettled. ing diplomatic and eco- DiMaggio said it was also apparent the North Koreans
armistice ending the Ko- “It reminds us that we nomic pressure on Pyong-
rean war was signed in July fought together in very dif- yang. q want to keep channels of communication open.q