ASIA PACIFIC

U.S. ready to use military force against North Korea if necessary, says diplomatic window is closing

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks during a Security Council meeting on North Korea at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Wednesday. The United States will present to the UN Security Council a new draft resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea after it launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, Haley said. | AFP-JIJI

By Jesse Johnson
Staff Writer

Jul 6, 2017

The United States has said it would resort to using military force, if necessary, to defend itself and its allies — including Japan — against North Korea's increasingly threatening nuclear and missile programs.

In a speech at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council held Wednesday in New York following Pyongyang's successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said the "actions by North Korea made the world a more dangerous place" and showed that it "does not want to be part of a peaceful world."

"The United States does not seek conflict. In fact, we seek to avoid it," Haley said. "We seek only the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and an end to the threatening actions by North Korea."