U.S. President Donald Trump has shown his firm resolve to maintain peace and security on the Korean Peninsula through his stern warning against North Korea, an official from South Korea's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae. said Tuesday.
In his address to the U.N. General Assembly, the U.S. leader said his country will have no choice but to "totally destroy North Korea" if forced to defend itself or its allies.
The strongly worded warning came after the communist North staged its sixth and apparently most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3.
A Cheong Wa Dae official said Trump's remarks only marked a repeat of the United States' basic stance that all options are on the table when dealing with North Korea.
"The United States has consistently maintained a principle of keeping all options on the table since the Korean armistice was signed in 1953 when dealing with issues related to the Korean Peninsula," the official said, while speaking on condition of anonymity.
Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Soo-hyun, however, noted the U.S. president may have underscored the urgency and seriousness of conditions on the Korean Peninsula, as well as his country's determination to maintain peace there.
"We believe (he) expressed a firm and specific stance regarding the important issue of maintaining peace and security now facing the international community and the United Nations," the spokesman said in a released statement.
"Also, we believe he clearly showed how seriously the U.S. government takes this issue by allocating an unprecedentedly long period of time to address the North Korean nuclear and North Korean issues in his U.N. address as a U.S. president," he added.
Still, the spokesman insisted the U.S. president sought to stress the need to bring North Korea to the dialogue table.
"His remarks today regarding North Korea reaffirmed the need to put maximum sanctions and pressure against North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations to make North Korea realize that denuclearization is its only option to ensure its future," he said.
In his address, the U.S. president noted his country was ready and able to destroy North Korea, but said, "hopefully this will not be necessary." (Yonhap)
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