SEOUL: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday it may be necessary to take pre-emptive military action against North Korea if the threat from their weapons program reaches a level “that we believe requires action.”
Tillerson outlined a tougher strategy to confront North Korea’s nuclear threat after visiting the world’s most heavily armed border near the tense buffer zone between the rivals Koreas. He also closed the door on talks with Pyongyang unless it denuclearizes and gives up its weapons of mass destruction.
Asked about the possibility of using military force, Tillerson told a news conference in the South Korean capital, “all of the options are on the table.”
Trump weighed in on the matter Friday on Twitter: “North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been ‘playing’ the United States for years. China has done little to help!“
Tillerson said the US does not want a military conflict, “but obviously if North Korea takes actions that threaten South Korean forces or our own forces that would be met with (an) appropriate response. If they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action that option is on the table.”
But he said that by taking other steps, including sanctions, the US is hopeful that North Korea could be persuaded to take a different course before it reaches that point.
Past US administrations have considered military force because of North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to deliver them, but rarely has that option been expressed so explicitly.
North Korea has accelerated its weapons development, violating multiple UN Security Council resolutions and appearing undeterred by tough international sanctions. The North conducted two nuclear test explosions and 24 ballistic missile tests last year. Experts say it could have a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the US within a few years.
Tillerson met Friday with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se and its acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn on the second leg of a three-nation trip which began in Japan and will end in China. State Department officials have described it as a “listening tour” as the administration seeks a coherent North Korea policy, well-coordinated with its Asian partners.
Earlier Friday, Tillerson touched down by helicopter Friday at Camp Bonifas, US-led UN base about 400 meters (438 yards) from the Demilitarized Zone, a Cold War vestige created after the Korean War ended in 1953. He then moved to the truce village of Panmunjom inside the DMZ, a cluster of blue huts where the Korean War armistice was signed.
Tillerson is the latest in a parade of senior US officials to have their photos taken at the border. But it’s the first trip by the new Trump administration’s senior diplomat.
The DMZ, which is both a tourist trap and a potential flashpoint, is guarded on both sides with land mines, razor wire fence, tank traps and hundreds of thousands of combat-ready troops. More than a million mines are believed to be buried inside the DMZ. Land mine explosions in 2015 that Seoul blamed on Pyongyang maimed two South Korean soldiers and led the rivals to threaten each other with attacks.”
Hordes of tourists visit both sides, despite the lingering animosity. The Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, which means the Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war.
President Donald Trump is seen as seeking to examine all options — including military ones — for halting the North’s weapons programs before Pyongyang becomes capable of threatening the US mainland.
Tillerson declared an end to the policy “strategic patience” of the Obama administration, which held off negotiating with Pyongyang while tightening of sanctions but failed to prevent North Korea’s weapons development. Tillerson said USwas exploring “a new range of diplomatic, security and economic measures.”
Central to the US review is China and its role in any bid to persuade Pyongyang to change course. China remains the North’s most powerful ally. Tillerson will meet with top Chinese officials including President Xi Jinping in Beijing this weekend.
While the US and its allies in Seoul and Tokyo implore Beijing to press its economic leverage over North Korea, the Chinese have emphasized their desire to relaunch diplomatic talks.
Tillerson, however, said that “20 years of talks with North Korea have brought us to where we are today.”
“It’s important that the leadership of North Korea realize that their current pathway of nuclear weapons and escalating threats will not lead to their objective of security and economic development. That pathway can only be achieved by denuclearizing, giving up their weapons of mass destruction, and only then will we be prepared to engage with them in talks,” he said.
Six-nation aid-for-disarmament talks with North Korea, which were hosted by China, have in fact been stalled since 2009. The Obama administration refused to resume them unless the North re-committed to the goal of denuclearization, something that North Korea has shown little interest in doing.
Tillerson urged China and other countries to fully implement UN sanctions on North Korea.
He also accused China of economic retaliation against South Korea over the US deployment of a missile defense system. He called that reaction “inappropriate and troubling” and said China should focus on the North Korean threat that makes the deployment necessary. China sees the system as a threat to its own security.
Last week, North Korea launched four missiles into seas off Japan, in an apparent reaction to major annual military drills the US is currently conducting with South Korea. Pyongyang claims the drills are a rehearsal for invasion.
Tillerson: Use of pre-emptive force an option with North Korea
Tillerson: Use of pre-emptive force an option with North Korea
South Korea president says ‘not ruling out’ direct weapons to Ukraine
Yoon also revealed he had discussed North Korea with US president-elect Donald Trump in a phone conversation that laid the groundwork for a meeting in the “near future.”
South Korea has a long-standing policy of not providing weapons to countries in conflict but indicated that could change in light of Pyongyang’s deployment of troops to Russia to aid its war efforts in Ukraine.
“Now, depending on the level of North Korean involvement, we will gradually adjust our support strategy in phases,” Yoon said at a press conference in Seoul.
“This means we are not ruling out the possibility of providing weapons.”
North Korea has become one of the most vocal and important backers of Russia’s full-scale offensive in Ukraine.
Seoul and the West have long accused Pyongyang of supplying artillery shells and missiles to Moscow for use in Ukraine.
The latest accusations, based on intelligence reports, indicate the North has deployed around 10,000 troops to Russia, suggesting even deeper involvement in the conflict and triggering an outcry and warnings in Seoul, Kyiv, and Western capitals.
Yoon said his office would monitor unfolding developments related to the operations of North Korean soldiers, and if he decided to provide weapons to Kyiv, the initial batch would be defensive.
“If we proceed with weapons support, we would prioritize defensive weapons as a first consideration,” he said without elaborating further.
US-Korea relations
In a call with Trump that took place before the press briefing, Yoon said the two men had discussed a number of issues surrounding North Korea while agreeing to a face-to-face meeting.
“We agreed to meet in the near future... I believe there will be an opportunity to meet within this year,” Yoon said.
Among the topics discussed were recent moves by the North, including its sending of trash-carrying balloons southward, he said.
“Regarding North Korea, we addressed issues such as the launching of over 7,000 trash balloons, GPS jamming, and their indiscriminate firing of ICBMs, IRBMs and SRBMs,” Yoon said, referring to a recent flurry of missile tests.
Compared with his dovish predecessor Moon Jae-in, Yoon has taken a tough stance with the nuclear-armed North while improving ties with security ally Washington.
Since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s second summit with then-president Trump collapsed in Hanoi in 2019, Pyongyang has abandoned diplomacy, doubling down on weapons development and rejecting Washington’s offers of talks.
While in office, Trump met with Kim three times, beginning with a landmark summit in Singapore in June 2018, though the pair failed to make much progress on efforts to denuclearise the North.
During the campaign, Trump said: “I think he misses me,” and that it was “nice to get along with somebody that has a lot of nuclear weapons.”
In a commentary released in July, North Korea said that while it was true Trump tried to reflect the “special personal relations” between the heads of states, he “did not bring about any substantial positive change.”
2024 ‘virtually certain’ to be hottest year on record: EU monitor
- Copernicus said 2024 would likely be more than 1.55 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 average — the period before the industrial-scale burning of fossil fuels
- Scientists say the safer 1.5C limit is rapidly slipping out of reach, while stressing that every tenth of a degree of temperature rise heralds progressively more damaging impacts
PARIS: This year is “virtually certain” to be the hottest in recorded history with warming above 1.5C, EU climate monitor Copernicus said Thursday, days before nations are due to gather for crunch UN climate talks.
The European agency said the world was passing a “new milestone” of temperature records that should serve to accelerate action to cut planet-heating emissions at the UN negotiations in Azerbaijan next week.
Last month, marked by deadly flooding in Spain and Hurricane Milton in the United States, was the second hottest October on record, with average global temperatures second only to the same period in 2023.
Copernicus said 2024 would likely be more than 1.55 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 average — the period before the industrial-scale burning of fossil fuels.
This does not amount to a breach of the Paris deal, which strives to limit global warming to below 2C and preferably 1.5C, because that is measured over decades and not individual years.
“It is now virtually certain that 2024 will be the warmest year on record and the first year of more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels,” said Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Deputy Director Samantha Burgess.
“This marks a new milestone in global temperature records and should serve as a catalyst to raise ambition for the upcoming Climate Change Conference, COP29.”
The UN climate negotiations in Azerbaijan, which will set the stage for a new round of crucial carbon-cutting targets, will take place in the wake of the United States election victory by Donald Trump.
Trump, a climate change denier, pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement during his first presidency — and while his successor Joe Biden took the United States back in, he has threatened to do so again.
Meanwhile, average global temperatures have reached new peaks, as have concentrations of planet-heating gases in the atmosphere.
Scientists say the safer 1.5C limit is rapidly slipping out of reach, while stressing that every tenth of a degree of temperature rise heralds progressively more damaging impacts.
Last month the UN said the current pace of climate action would result in a catastrophic 3.1C of warming this century, while all current climate pledges taken in full would still amount to a devastating 2.6C temperature rise.
Global warming is not just about rising temperatures, but the knock-on effect of all the extra heat in the atmosphere and seas.
Warmer air can hold more water vapor, and warmer oceans mean greater evaporation, resulting in more intense downpours and storms.
In a month of weather extremes, October saw above-average rainfall across swathes of Europe, as well as parts of China, the US, Brazil and Australia, Copernicus said.
The US is also experiencing ongoing drought, which affected record numbers of people, the EU monitor added.
Copernicus said average sea surface temperatures in the area it monitors were the second highest on record for the month of October.
C3S uses billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations to aid its calculations.
Copernicus records go back to 1940 but other sources of climate data such as ice cores, tree rings and coral skeletons allow scientists to expand their conclusions using evidence from much deeper in the past.
Climate scientists say the period being lived through right now is likely the warmest the earth has been for the last 100,000 years, back at the start of the last Ice Age.
US, China must ‘get along’, Xi tells Trump
- Trump’s crushing presidential victory heralded a possible shift in US-China relations
- Both Republican Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris had pledged to get tougher on Beijing
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday said Beijing and Washington must find a way to “get along” in a message to US president-elect Donald Trump, state media said.
Trump’s crushing presidential victory heralded a new era of uncertainty in the United States and the world.
It also heralded a possible shift in US-China relations, frayed in recent years by tensions over everything from trade to the status of the self-ruled island of Taiwan.
In a congratulatory message to Trump, Xi “pointed out that history has shown that China and the United States benefit from cooperation and suffer from confrontation,” state broadcaster CCTV said.
“A stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relationship is in the common interest of both countries and is in line with the expectations of the international community,” Xi said.
He called for Washington and Beijing to “strengthen dialogue and communication” and “properly manage differences.”
The two countries must “find a correct way... to get along in this new era, to benefit both countries and the world,” Xi said.
Both Republican Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris had pledged to get tougher on Beijing.
But Trump upped the ante, vowing to slap 60-percent tariffs on all Chinese goods entering the United States.
That proposal could hit $500 billion worth of Chinese exports, asset managers PineBridge Investments have suggested.
In his first message to Trump since the former president secured a second term in office, Chinese leader Xi said he hoped “that both sides will uphold the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”
Chinese Vice President Han Zheng also sent a message to vice president-elect JD Vance, CCTV said.
Record drought in Amazon impacts 420,000 children: UNICEF
RIO DE JANEIRO: More than 420,000 children in the Amazon basin are being badly affected by a drought parching much of South America that is impacting water supplies and river transport, UNICEF said Wednesday.
The record-breaking drought is taking a toll on Indigenous and other communities in Brazil, Colombia and Peru reliant on boat connections, the UN agency said.
“We are witnessing the devastation of an essential ecosystem that families rely on, leaving many children without access to adequate food, water, health care and schools,” UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said in a statement.
The resulting food insecurity increased the risk of child malnutrition, the agency said, while less access to drinking water could spur a rise in infectious diseases.
In Brazil’s Amazon region alone, more than 1,700 schools and more than 760 medical clinics had to close or became inaccessible because of low river levels.
In Colombia’s Amazon, lack of drinking water and food forced 130 schools to suspend classes. In Peru, more than 50 clinics were inaccessible.
UNICEF said it needs $10 million in coming months to help the stricken communities in those three countries, including by providing water and sending out health brigades.
Weather observation agencies such as NASA’s Earth Observatory and the EU’s Copernicus service say the drought across the Amazon basin since the latter half of last year was caused by the 2023-2024 El Nino climate phenomenon in the Pacific.
Brazilian experts said the climate crisis was also to blame.
The insufficient rain and shrinking of the vital rainforest’s rivers exacerbated forest fires, disrupted hydroelectric power generation and dried out crops in parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
Thousands ordered to evacuate as powerful wind-fed wildfire burns homes in Southern California
CAMARILLO, California: California was lashed by powerful winds Wednesday that fed a fast-moving wildfire, which destroyed dozens of homes and forced thousands of residents to flee as forecasters warned of the potential for “extreme and life-threatening” blazes.
Northwest of Los Angeles, the Mountain Fire exploded in size and prompted evacuation orders for more than 10,000 people as it threatened 3,500 structures in suburban communities, ranches and agricultural areas around Camarillo, according to a statement from Gov. Gavin Newsom. He said he has requested federal assistance for the area east of the Pacific coast city of Ventura.
The blaze was burning in a region that has seen some of California’s most destructive fires over the years. A thick plume of smoke rose hundreds of feet into the sky Wednesday, blanketing whole neighborhoods and limiting visibility for firefighters and evacuees. The fire grew from less than half of a square mile to 16 square miles (62 square kilometers) in little more than five hours.
Ventura County Fire Captain Trevor Johnson described crews racing with their engines to homes threatened by the flames to save lives.
“This is as intense as it gets. The hair on the back of the firefighters’ neck I’m sure was standing up,” he said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
At one spot, flames licked the burning remains of a home. Its roof was reduced to only a few charred shingles.
Two people suffered apparent smoke inhalation and were taken to hospitals, fire officials said. No firefighters reported significant injuries.
The erratic winds and limited visibility grounded fixed-wing aircraft, and gusts topped 61 mph (98 kph), said weather service meteorologist Bryan Lewis. Water-dropping helicopters were still flying.
First responders pleaded with residents to evacuate. Deputies made contact with 14,000 people to urge them to leave as embers spread up to 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) away and sparked new flames.
“This fire is moving dangerously fast,” Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said.
Aerial footage from local television networks showed dozens of homes in flames across several neighborhoods as embers were whipped from home to home. Other footage captured horses trotting alongside evacuating vehicles.
Jade Katz, who said she is disabled and does not drive, waited for a friend to pick her up near her Camarillo Heights home with a suitcase full of medication and Bella, her Great Dane service dog. But the friend couldn’t reach her, so first responders sent a squad car to escort her to safety as she watched the neighborhood burn.
Officials said they were using all resources, including water-dropping helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft dropping fire retardant, but it was still burning out of control Wednesday afternoon. Andrew Dowd, a Ventura County fire spokesperson, said he did not have details of how many structures had been damaged.
Gus Garcia, who owns a ranch south of the fire, said he’s waiting to see whether conditions will change to decide if he should evacuate his horses and cattle. Around 12:30 p.m., his animals were still safe and he was trying to stay out of the way as others got their livestock out.
His ranch is surrounded by others with horses and alpaca, and Garcia said his neighbors in the canyon did not seem panicked.
“The horse community, they prepare for this because it’s always a possibility up here,” he said.
Meanwhile to the south, Los Angeles County Fire Department crews scrambled to contain a wildfire near Malibu’s Broad Beach as authorities briefly shut down the Pacific Coast Highway as flames burned near multimillion-dollar properties. Residents were urged to shelter in place while aircraft dropped water on the 50-acre (20-hectare) Broad Fire. It was 15 percent contained around 12:30 p.m. with forward progress stopped. Fire officials said two structures burned.
The National Weather Service office for the Los Angeles area amended its red flag warning for increased fire danger with a rare “particularly dangerous situation” label, and officials in several counties urged residents to be on watch for fast-spreading blazes, power outages and downed trees amid the latest round of notorious Santa Ana winds.
With predicted gusts between 50 mph (80 kph) and 100 mph (160 kph) and humidity levels as low as 8 percent, parts of Southern California could experience conditions ripe for “extreme and life-threatening” fire behavior into Thursday, the weather service said.
Forecasters also issued red flag warnings until Thursday from California’s central coast through the San Francisco Bay Area and into counties to the north, where strong winds were also expected.
Utilities in California began powering down equipment during high winds and extreme fire danger after a series of massive and deadly wildfires in recent years were sparked by electrical lines and other infrastructure. On Wednesday, more than 65,000 customers in Southern California were without power preventatively, and upwards of 20,000 in Northern California.
Wednesday’s fires were burning in the same areas of other recent destructive fires, including the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which killed three people and destroyed 1,600 homes near Los Angeles, and the the 2017 Thomas Fire, which destroyed more than a thousand homes and other structures in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Southern California Edison has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle claims after its equipment was blamed for both blazes.
