US Secretary of Defense December 22 depicts a "storm cloud" on the Korean peninsula and calls for troops ready to fight.
Speaking to troops at the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said diplomacy would be the best way to prevent a war if all the explosions broke out. The US was strengthened by a powerful and ready-to-fight force, AP reported.
"My strong young soldiers, the only way our diplomats can be powerful in their voice and be confident that you are always ready to fight," he emphasized.
Comments from the US Defense Secretary have been released in the context of the United Nations Security Council has adopted the most radical sanctions against US-led North Korea, sell oil to North Korea and send back Korean workers back to the country within 24 months from the date of adoption of the resolution.
The United States currently has 28,000 troops stationed permanently in Korea. Asked whether the families of US servicemen in South Korea are going to be evacuated, Minister Mattis said he still believed diplomacy could prevent the crisis and Washington had no plans to evacuate.
Vu Hoang
