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Mattis Threatens North Korea With ‘Massive’ Response to Nuclear Strike

© REUTERS / Yuri GripasU.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis gestures during a press briefing on the campaign to defeat ISIS at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., May 19, 2017
U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis gestures during a press briefing on the campaign to defeat ISIS at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., May 19, 2017 - Sputnik International
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US Defense Secretary James Mattis warned Pyongyang on Friday that any use of nuclear weapons by North Korea would be met with an overwhelming response.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — "The US does not accept a nuclear North Korea… Make no mistake, any attack on the US or our allies will be defeated. Any use of nuclear weapons by the North will be met with a massive military response, effective and overwhelming, " he said during a speech in Seoul.

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Mattis said that by sticking to its nuclear and missile program the North was in effect "reducing its security," after Pyongyang justified its research of nuclear weapons by a threat from the United States.

The Pentagon chief stressed that dialogue remained Washington's preferred method of settling the dispute with Pyongyang but added the threat of a nuclear strike from the North was accelerating.

During his fourth trip to Asia in his current post, Mattis went to South Korea on Friday to co-chair the 49th annual Security Consultative Meeting. He also visited the demilitarized buffer zone between the two Koreas with South’s Defense Minister Song Young-moo.

​The United States and South Korea, Mattis said, remain steadfast allies in the face of a threat from the North, which is pushing ahead with efforts to develop nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the continental United States.

 

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