The U.S. secretary of defense has expressed his opposition to a military solution to the North Korea crisis.
 
While appearing on the CBS show “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Secretary James Mattis said that a military conflict with North Korea would probably be the worst kind of fighting in most people's lifetimes.
  
Mattis noted that the North has hundreds of artillery cannons and rocket launchers within range of the South Korean capital Seoul, which is one of the most densely populated cities on earth.
 
The secretary stressed that the North Korean regime is a direct threat to the U.S. as well as to South Korea, Japan, China and Russia. He said that the U.S. doesn’t have to wait until the North possesses intercontinental ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear weapons.
 
However, Mattis refused to elaborate on whether North Korea has crossed a line, saying that the U.S. government doesn’t draw red lines unless it intends to carry them out. 
 

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