Any threat to our territory will be met with a massive military response, says Defense Secretary Mattis

Any threat to the U.S. or its allies will be met with “a massive military response”, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said even as the nuclear crisis in Korean peninsula continues to escalate steadily. “We have many military options,” Mr. Mattis said after a briefing for President Donald Trump on them, but did not divulge details. “The President wanted to be briefed on each one of them,” he said.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council had scheduled an emergency meeting on Monday to take stock of the situation after the latest provocation by Pyongyang in the form of a hydrogen bomb explosion, and to discuss further sanctions against it.

The UN had tightened sanctions last month by banning coal, iron, lead and seafood products from the country. New proposals under consideration include restricting oil export to North Korea and air and maritime restrictions.

Diplomatic route

Meanwhile, South Korea, which will bear the brunt of a North Korean retaliation in the event of an American preemptive strike, maintained that it still hopes to have a diplomatic route to de-nuclearisation of the peninsula. Mr. Trump, who is threatening South Korea on trade issues in the midst of the nuclear crisis, blamed it for “appeasement” of North Korea and did not call its President Moon Jae-in on Sunday when he spoke to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “The two leaders condemned North Korea’s continued destabilising and provocative actions, confirmed the two countries’ ironclad mutual defence commitments, and pledged to continue close cooperation,” the White House said in a statement.

While the American President berated and threatened its ally on the frontline of the conflict, it was left to Mr. Mattis to reassure South Korea. “We made clear that we have the ability to defend ourselves and our allies, South Korea and Japan, from any attack. And our commitment among the allies is ironclad: Any threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam, or our allies will be met with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming,” he said adding that the America is “not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea.”

“Kim Jong-un should take heed of the United Nations Security Council’s unified voice… to the de-nuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

The U.S. has maintained that it could negotiate with North Korea as long as it commits to a path to abdication of nuclear weapons. This position is not acceptable to North Korea. The U.S. has also in the recent weeks said it does not seek a regime change in North Korea, with the hope that this could soften up Mr. Kim.

As the U.S.’s options narrow down to either a military strike against North Korea or an acceptance of its status as a nuclear weapons state, some experts in America are willing to consider the second. “History shows that we can, if we must, tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea — the same way we tolerated the far greater threat of thousands of Soviet nuclear weapons during the Cold War,” Susan Rice, Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser, wrote in an Op-ed in New York Times last month.

The military option will lead to millions of deaths in the Korean peninsula, according to war plans drawn by the Pentagon. China and Russia have openly expressed scepticism about further sanctions. They have been pushing for a freeze in North Korean escalatory measures in exchange for a freeze in South Korean -U.S. joint military exercises to create conditions for talks.