Anchor: Conflicting comments have been coming from the U.S. in recent days in regards to how they will deal with the North Korean issue. While the White House press secretary says the U.S. is keeping all options on the table, both the president and the secretary of defense say talking is not an option. In line with the tougher stance, the U.S. deployed four fighter jets to the Korean Peninsula Thursday in an apparent display of force.
Our Bae Joo-yon has the details.
 
Report: The White House has hinted that the U.S. remains open to talks with North Korea, saying that dialogue is still among various options in dealing with the North.
 
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said during a regular news briefing on Thursday that the U.S. is keeping all options on the table, including diplomatic, economic and military.
 
However, her comments come as U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis says that the U.S. is not talking to the North right now. He made the comment while stressing that there are no discrepancies between President Donald Trump and himself regarding the North Korean issue.
 
After the North’s missile launch over Japan, Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday that “talking is not the answer” for North Korea while Mattis said the U.S. is “never out of diplomatic solutions.”
 
He told reporters that his comment was widely misinterpreted. 

In line with Mattis’s remarks, the U.S. appears to be displaying a show of force by deploying a squadron of F-35B stealth jets and B-1B Lancer bombers Thursday.
 
Four F-35B fighters from Japan and two long-range B-1B Lancer bombers flying in from Guam conducted a joint flying exercise with four South Korean F-15K jet fighters and an air-to-surface firing drill over Gangwon Province.

It was the first time that the U.S. has deployed both the B-1B Lancer and F-35B aircraft to the Korean Peninsula simultaneously, signaling Washington's willingness to pressure the North with strategic military assets. 
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.

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