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The United States special envoy on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea said on Thursday all options remain on the table for solving the nuclear standoff with the reclusive country but that he did not think the military option was close.
Joseph Yun, speaking to reporters in the Japanese capital, said the US was seeking a peaceful resolution of the crisis and diplomacy was its preferred option.
"Our policy is very much for the peaceful resolution of the North Korean (DPRK) nuclear crisis. We've said over and over again that what we want to see is dialogue," Yun said.
"Having said that, we also have said that all options are on the table and by all options, it has to include military options," he said. "I don't believe we are close to it."
The DPRK leader Kim Jong Un has refused to give up on the development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the US despite increasingly severe UN sanctions, raising fears of a new war on the Korean Peninsula. The DPRK has test-fired missiles over Japan.
Kim Jong Un looking at the launching of the Hwansong-15 missile which is claimed to be capable of reaching all parts of the US. /VCG Photo
Yun was speaking a day after US President Donald Trump, branding the DPRK's leadership "depraved", vowed to prevent Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear missiles that he said could "very soon threaten" the American homeland.
Trump offered no new specifics on how he intended to rein in the DPRK. While Trump's administration says it prefers a diplomatic solution, it says all options are on the table.
Earlier in January, the DPRK and the Republic of Korea launched rare talks to bring DPRK athletes to this month's Winter Olympics in ROK after Kim said he was willing to open up discussions with Seoul.
Yun welcomed the inter-Korea dialogue and said he hoped it was a trend of things to come, but he said any talks with Washington would have to "be about steps North Korea (DPRK) would take toward denuclearization".
(CGTN)
