The United States does not intend to seek regime change in the DPRK or to seek conflict. This was stated by acting assistant Secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific Susan Thornton, reports TASS .
“The U.S. has made it clear that we want to solve this problem through peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” the diplomat said.
“We will meet any threat or attack [from North Korea] properly”, — said at the same time Thornton, without specifying how. She reiterated that the US does not intend “to allow North Korea to continue to behave in a threatening manner.”
“To this no tolerance to these illegal programs, nuclear and ballistic missiles,” added the spokesman, whose words quoted by RIA Novosti.
Earlier on April 17, Deputy Minister of foreign Affairs of the DPRK Han song-Ryul announced that Pyongyang intends to continue missile tests. “We will conduct missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis,” said a North Korean official. He also warned about the possibility of full-scale war if the USA would be so “reckless to use military means” against Pyongyang.
The Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow will not accept “nuclear adventurous actions” of Pyongyang, but stressed that the responses of individual countries should not violate international law. “So I really hope that unilateral actions like those we’ve seen recently in Syria, will not” — said Lavrov.
The words of the head of the Russian foreign Ministry responded to the statement by the Vice-President of the USA of Michael Pence and acting President of the Republic of Korea Hwang Kyo-Ahn, who promised Pyongyang “punitive measures” in the case of new provocations. Pence said that in the case of using the DPRK’s conventional or nuclear weapons response, the United States and South Korea is “overwhelming and effective.”