President Donald Trump expressed his displeasure at U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who had, during his recent visit to China, mentioned opening up channels of communication with North Korea. This is, apparently, not in tune with the strategy of Donald Trump who feels that the action proposed by Tillerson would be a waste of time. In his opinion, military action is the only option to normalize relations instead of any diplomatic approach.
Experts have cautioned that if the actions of North Korea are not properly interpreted, it could complicate matters and result in an atmospheric nuclear test or a direct artillery attack on Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
Donald Trump takes a firm stand
New York Times reports that President Donald Trump wants to handle North Korea in his own way. He has drawn reference to history and said that "not a single strategy has delivered any positive result even after 25 years." Kim Jong-Un has been in power for the last six years and appears to be following in the footsteps of his predecessors. Donald Trump went on to add that earlier US Presidents like Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama failed to stop the nuclear activities and that would soon change.
Obviously, there are divergent views on how best to resolve the crisis that has escalated over the years and, both President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are newcomers in the political arena which could be a handicap.
Tact is necessary to reduce tension
The situation in the Korean peninsula is volatile and any wrong step from either side could result in a catastrophe. The high-pitch exchange of words between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un, the leader of North Korea keep adding fuel to the fire. This could reach flashpoint and must be avoided.
In case of any direct confrontation, the people of South Korea would suffer the most. They would be in the line of fire and face the flak which would, in turn, hurt the interests of America because Seoul is one of its allies. National security analysts have cautioned against exercising the military option which could lead to large-scale casualties.
It may be recalled that, while on the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump indicated that he would like to negotiate the issues with Kim Jong-Un over a hamburger. Such an approach could still be a better option compared to deploying the military. Incidentally, he plans to visit China, South Korea, and Japan later in the year and that could create opportunities to pursue peace initiatives as proposed by Rex Tillerson.
