Donald Trump warns ‘major conflict’ possible with North Korea

US president Donald Trump said a "major, major conflict" with North Korea was possible over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, while China said the situation on the Korean peninsula could escalate or slip out of control.

Mr Trump, speaking on Thursday, said he wanted to resolve the crisis peacefully, possibly through the use of new economic sanctions, although a military option was not off the table. “There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea,” Mr Trump said in an interview at the Oval Office.

“We’d love to solve things diplomatically but it’s very difficult,” he said, describing North Korea as his biggest global challenge.

The nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula is in danger of escalating or slipping out of control, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has warned.

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Mr Wang made the comments at a meeting with a Russian diplomat on Thursday at the United Nations, the ministry said in a statement.

China, the only major ally of North Korea, has been increasingly uncomfortable in recent months about its neighbour’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles in violation of UN resolutions.

The United States has called on China to do more to rein in Pyongyang and Mr Trump lavished praise on Chinese president Xi Jinping for his efforts, calling him "a good man".

“I believe he is trying very hard. I know he would like to be able to do something. Perhaps it’s possible that he can’t. But I think he’d like to be able to do something,” Mr Trump said.

Nuclear tests

US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said on Thursday that China had asked North Korea not to conduct any more nuclear tests. Beijing had warned Pyongyang it would impose unilateral sanctions if it went ahead, he added.

“We were told by the Chinese that they informed the regime that if they did conduct further nuclear tests, China would be taking sanctions on their own,” Mr Tillerson said on Fox News, without specifying what sanctions he was referring to.

Mr Tillerson did not say when China made the threat and there was no immediate confirmation from Beijing. He is due to chair a meeting with UN security council foreign ministers on Friday, where he said he would stress the need for members to fully implement existing sanctions as well as possible next steps.

China banned imports of North Korean coal in February, cutting off its most important export, and Chinese media this month raised the possibility of restricting oil shipments to the North if it unleashed more provocations.

In a show of force, the United States is sending the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group to waters off the Korean peninsula, where it will join the USS Michigan, a nuclear submarine that docked in South Korea on Tuesday.

South Korea's navy has said it will hold drills with the US strike group. Admiral Harry Harris, the top US commander in the Pacific, said on Wednesday the carrier was in the Philippine Sea, within two hours' striking distance of North Korea if needs be. Admiral Harris also said a US missile defence system being deployed in South Korea to ward off any North Korean attack would be operational in coming days.

Security dispute

China has been angered by the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD), complaining that its radar can see deep into China and undermines its security. Mr Trump said in the interview he wants South Korea to pay the cost of the THAAD, which he estimated at $1 billion.

South Korea, one of Washington’s most crucial allies in the region, said the United States would have to bear the cost, pointing to possible friction ahead.

There will be a certain schadenfreude in Beijing over Mr Trump's comments on THAAD, as China is vehemently opposed to the system as it thinks it upsets the strategic defence balance in the region.

China is also planning to conduct live-fire drills and test new weapons to counter THAAD, which would involve the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force and the recently inaugurated Rocket Force.

Mr Trump has vowed to prevent North Korea from being able to hit the US with a nuclear missile, a capability experts say Pyongyang could have some time after 2020.

North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests and numerous missile tests, including one this month, a day before a summit between Mr Trump and Mr Xi in Florida.

North Korea, technically still at war with the South after their 1950-1953 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, regularly threatens to destroy the US and says it will pursue its nuclear and missile programmes to counter perceived US aggression.

"Trump is recklessly resorting to the hackneyed methods, being utterly ignorant of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea]," the North's KCNA state news agency said on Friday, citing a commentary from the Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

“Unshakable is the faith and will of the army and people of the DPRK to build a socialist power . . . and no force can check their advance.”

‘Rational’ assumptions

Mr Trump, asked if he considered North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to be rational, said he was operating from the assumption that he is rational. He noted that Mr Kim had taken over his country at an early age. "As to whether or not he's rational, I have no opinion on it. I hope he's rational," he said.

In Moscow, Russian president Vladimir Putin and visiting Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe called on North Korea and other countries on Thursday to avoid behaviour or rhetoric that could increase tension. Foreign ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), meeting in the Philippines, called for the resumption of dialogue.

"ASEAN strongly urges the DPRK to comply fully with its obligations arising from all relevant UN Security Council resolutions and international laws in the interest of maintaining international peace and security," they said in a statement.

There were further red flags for future US-Korean relations when Mr Trump described the US free trade agreement with South Korea as “horrible”.

“We are going to renegotiate that deal or terminate it,” Mr Trump said.

The Global Times ran an editorial saying China must be ready for poorer North Korean ties. "That China strictly implements the UN Security Council resolutions that sanction North Korea is seen by all. If Pyongyang continues with its nuclear and missile tests, China is bound to support more harsh resolutions on this country," said the paper, which does not reflect official Chinese thinking but gives an insight into the thinking of the ruling Communist Party.

The paper said relations between the allies, long described as “close as lips and teeth”, had been severely affected, pointing out that since Mr Kim became the leader of North Korea, there have been no leadership meetings between the two sides and mutual trust was “scarce”. – (Additonal reporting: Reuters)