Military action in North Korea is ‘on the table’

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, left, speaks as South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se looks on during a press conference in Seoul, March 17, 2017.

In his first first face-to-face talks with Chinese leaders, TIllerson pledged to work together in addressing the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear programme and cautioned that regional tensions had reached a “dangerous level”.

“We do not control them, and we have strongly opposed North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons from the very beginning”, he said, referring to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Earlier in Tokyo, Tillerson declared that diplomatic and other efforts over the past 20 years to put an end North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have failed.

“Obviously if North Korea takes actions that threaten South Korean forces or our own forces that would be met with (an) appropriate response”, he said.

Wang said China had made an “important contribution” to supporting U.S. engagement with Pyongyang but stressed it was, at its core, an issue between the United States and North Korea.

The US has been pressing China to do more to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, including imposing tougher sanctions on North Korea.

Beijing was Tillerson’s final stop on his first official trip to Asia, which included visits to Japan and South Korea.

Tillerson said the U.S. was “ready to develop relations with China based on the principle of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation”. He did not detail what specific action would prompt a potential act of war from the United States.

Wang insisted the tensions on the peninsula were about the hostility between Pyangyong and Washington and said the issues should be resolved by talks. The ties worsened even further after a phone call between Trump and the Taiwanese president in December, raising concerns that the new United States administration may not honor the one-China policy.

China resents United States pressure to do more on North Korea and says it is doing all it can but will not take steps to threatened the livelihoods of the North Korean people. There are reports in the US and Chinese media that US President Donald Trump is scheduled to host Chinese President Xi Jinping for a two-day summit on April 6-7 at his mansion Mar-a-Lago in Florida which Trump is using as his winter retreat.

Beijing fears his fall would send waves of refugees into north-eastern China and see South Korean and American forces taking up positions along its border.

Trump has so far been an unpredictable partner for China, attacking Beijing on issues ranging from trade to the South China Sea and in December 2016 by talking to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.

He also stressed that the missile shield is for defensive purposes, not targeting anything other than missiles coming from the North.

The secretary of state noted that North Korea doesn’t provide “the same type of transparency and forewarning when they chose to launch ballistic missiles”.

The U.S.is installing a missile-defense system in South Korea despite complaints by China that its sophisticated radar would thwart Chinese defenses, and the same system could also be deployed in Japan.