North Korea and any nuclear attack by Pyongyang will meet a massive military response, the US defence chief warned.James Mattis made the comments in Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday at a joint presser with his counterpart Song Young-moo, a day after visiting the demilitarised zone that has divided the two Koreas since the 1950-53 war on the peninsula.
"Make no mistake - any attack on the United States or our allies will be defeated," Mattis said. "Any use of nuclear weapons will be met with a massive military response.
"I can't imagine a condition under which the United States will accept North Korea as a nuclear power... Our combined effort is to deter that sort of threat or to have military options - many different military options - that would realistically reduce that threat as low as possible. And yes, we do have those options," the defence secretary said.
The North's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper accused the US and South Korea on Saturday of "crazily beating the drum of confrontation".