US Secretary of Defense James M. Mattis said on Saturday that the threat of a North Korean nuclear attack is mounting and warned that any attack will face a "huge military response".
US Secretary of Defense
JONATHAN ERNST / REUTERS
"Be sure, any attack on the United States or our allies will be repelled," Matiss said in a visit to Seoul. "Any use of nuclear weapons faces a huge military response."
He added that he was unable to imagine the circumstances in which the United States would accept North Korea as a nuclear country and that diplomacy is still the preferred way of contacting Pyongyang.
The tide in the Korean peninsula has risen in recent months, with US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un initiating in a sharp word tradeoff and threatening to destroy the other side.
In disregard of the UN resolutions, North Korea has held two nuclear tests and countless ballistic missile tests in the past year. In September, after the last Pyongyang nuclear test, the UN Security Council expanded the sanctions imposed on it.