World

US tells North Korea: ‘We are not your enemy’

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the United States would like to have a dialogue with North Korea and isn’t seeking to topple its regime, Deutshe Welle reports.

Rex Tillerson sought to assure North Korea Tuesday that the United States was not its enemy, but at the same time warned the regime it must abandon its nuclear activities.

“We don’t think having a dialogue where the North Koreans come to the table assuming they’re going to maintain their nuclear weapons is productive,” the diplomat said.

Briefing reporters at the State Department about his first six months in office, Tillerson acknowledged there were limited options for dealing with Pyongyang, adding that he “would like to sit down and have a dialogue with them about the future.”

“We do not seek a regime change, we do not seek a collapse of the regime, we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula,” he said. “We’re trying to convey to the North Koreans: we are not your enemy, we’re not your threat but you are presenting an unacceptable threat to us, and we have to respond.”

Following the launch, leader Kim boasted that North Korea could now strike any target in the United States. Analysts agreed that large parts of the US mainland, including Los Angeles and Chicago, were in range of Pyongyang’s weapons.

Meanwhile, a Republican senator has told US television that Trump told him he would go to war with North Korea “if they continue to try to hit America with an ICBM.”

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