Special Envoy: US Not Close to Attacking North Korea

Insists All Options Remain on the Table

Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, US Special Envoy Joseph Yun said that the US continues to maintain that all options are on the table for North Korea, and that diplomacy is the “preferred option.”

Joseph Yun

Much more importantly, Yun said that while the military option is still open, he does not believe that the Trump Administration is close to making any decision to attack North Korea soon.

Yun hopefully has some insight on this matter, as the special envoy in charge of drumming up support for action against North Korea. His suggesting the US ideal is diplomacy is not always expressed by officials, but apparently isn’t forbidden in the way that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s explicit offer of talks was.

Yun’s downplaying of the chances of an attack comes amid recent reports that the US has considered carrying out an attack in the near future, with an eye toward a “limited” strike that they think North Korea might not retaliate over.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.