Mattis: Diplomacy on N.K. backed by military options

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said that efforts to denuclearize North Korea will continue to be diplomatically led, with military options as a backup.

The Pentagon chief reaffirmed the policy on North Korea as he flew to Vancouver, Canada, on Monday to join a foreign ministerial meeting on addressing the North's nuclear and ballistic missile threats.

"It's expanding the number of nations that are sitting down now and looking at how we reinforce the diplomatic overtures and the diplomatic initiatives," he told reporters en route to the city, according to an official transcript, when asked what he hopes to see come out of the meeting.

"If the diplomatic option does not work, then obviously the whole point is to reinforce the diplomatic option to show that there are military options should there be a DPRK attack," he added, using the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Mattis said the meeting should "let the diplomats know that they are backed up by the force of arms."

The Vancouver meeting was held Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland as the co-hosts. It brought together the foreign ministers of 20 nations, including South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her counterparts from countries that fought alongside the South in the 1950-53 Korean War.

Tensions sharply escalated last year as Pyongyang aggressively pursued its weapons programs through its sixth nuclear test and three tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

But this year has seen a possible easing of tensions as South and North Korea held their first high-level talks in more than two years last week to discuss the North's participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Mattis said the ongoing talks are a "positive indicator."

"I don't think they relieve any of the U.N. sanctions (against North Korea)," he added. "I don't think ... we have sufficient data to say what this indicates as far as the way forward by the (North's) Kim (Jong-un) regime."

hague@yna.co.kr
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