No-one ‘in their right minds’ wants the US to strike against North Korea, Boris Johnson has said – as he urged China to tackle the threat from Kim Jong-Un.
The Foreign Secretary warned there were ‘no good military options’ to resolve the crisis after Donald Trump threatened to ‘totally destroy’ the nuclear aspirant state.
Mr Johnson said Beijing must act to stop the US being ‘driven’ to take action by tightening oil sanctions against the North Korean regime.
Speaking in New York, Mr Johnson said ‘no one in their right minds’ wanted the stand-off to end with military action
America first: Trump took his nationalist message to the United Nations in New York and tore into North Korea
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (pictured with President Donald Trump on Monday) said there were ‘no good military options’ to deal with North Korea
The call came after Mr Trump ramped up the the warlike rhetoric, again dubbing Kim Jong-un ‘rocket man’ in his debut speech to the UN General Assembly.
Speaking after the regime signalled defiance with a series of nuclear and missile tests, the US president told the UN: ‘Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime.’
Speaking about the US, he added: ‘If it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.’
At the summit, Mr Johnson met with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and urged him to keep up the pressure on North Korea.
Mr Johnson told the Guardian: ‘No one in their right minds wants to see the US driven to use its military options – I do not see any good military options – and that is why all the pressure has to be on the Chinese to tighten the sanctions on oil.
‘That is the jugular of the North Korean economy. China has been responding in a mature way, and they say if you go in too hard you will cause a catastrophe and mass migrations. Before that happens it may be possible to bring Kim Jong-un to the table.’
Mr Johnson also met Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono and reiterated the UK’s solidarity with Japan over the threat it faces from Mr Kim’s regime.
Meanwhile, a Downing Street spokeswoman said military force must remain an option to deal with the ‘rogue’ state.
Grand setting: Trump stood in front of the world leaders assembled at the United Nations General Assembly in New York
Where’s Kim’s team gone? Seats allocated to North Korea were empty during the speech
‘We are clear that North Korea’s actions are provocative and destabilising and our focus is on increasing the pressure on them to change course,’ the spokeswoman said.
‘As President Trump said, the international community must continue to work together to confront rogue regimes and that is exactly what the Prime Minister will be doing in discussions with world leaders in New York this week.
‘No-one wants to see military action, but as we progress with efforts to secure a peaceful diplomatic resolution, it would be wrong to rule anything out.’
Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to have private talks with Mr Trump at the UN later today.