US Still Counts On Diplomacy To Cap North Korea Nuclear Advances - Esper

North Korea is trying to build long-range nuclear-capable missiles and advocated diplomacy as the best way to cap Pyongyang's advances, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2020) North Korea is trying to build long-range nuclear-capable missiles and advocated diplomacy as the best way to cap Pyongyang's advances, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Friday.

"North Korea pursues an aggressive research and development program and test program to say the least... Clearly they are trying to build long-range ballistic missiles with an ability to carry a nuclear warhead atop of it," Esper said. "It still remains to be the case that we are pursuing diplomatic initiatives with them. We think the best way forward is through a political agreement."

Esper acknowledged that the United States had been "on the path to war" with North Korea when he assumed his current position two and a half years ago, but credited President Donald Trump for reversing the situation.

"The Army and everybody was preparing for a possible conflict. I think the outreach by the president in the last couple of years really forestalled that. At this point, we need to get back to the negotiating table and really figure out the best way forward to denuclearize the [Korean] Peninsula," Esper said.

US-North Korea negotiations on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula have been in limbo since the North Korean delegation departed from the October talks in Sweden, saying the United States had come empty-handed.

In early January, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stated that Pyongyang would not implement the ban on nuclear testing until the United States offered some concessions.