A U.S. senator says that the U.S. will deploy military means to stop North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, if necessary.
 
[Sound bite: Cory Gardner - Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific Affairs]
"The U.S. will deploy every economic, diplomatic, and if necessary, military tool at our disposal to deter Pyongyang and protect our allies."
 
Senator Cory Gardner, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific Affairs, made the remarks on Tuesday during a forum hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
 
Gardner said that U.S. policy toward North Korea should be straightforward.
 
He said that despite the Trump administration's earnest efforts to induce China to action, its response has been lacking, and that China must move beyond an articulation of concern and lay out a transparent path of focused pressure to denuclearize North Korea.
 
The senator also criticized China’s economic retaliation against South Korea for hosting the U.S. THAAD antimissile system, calling it a "shameful economic sanctions campaign."
 
He said that THAAD does not threaten China, and Beijing also knows it.
 
Regarding Seoul’s recent offer to hold talks with Pyongyang, Gardner said that before any talks, it must be demanded that Pyongyang first meet the denuclearization commitments that it has already agreed to. 
 

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