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North Korea will be vanquished if there is war: Wolfowitz
Washington, June 20: Warning North Korea that it will be `vanquished` if there is a war, the US has conceded that such a confrontation would prove `costly and destructive`.
Washington, June 20: Warning North Korea that it will be "vanquished" if there is a war, the US has conceded that such a confrontation would prove "costly and destructive".
"A war in Korea would be costly and destructive but there can be no question on the outcome," Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the house armed services committee. "We would vanquish the North Korean military and ensure its aggressive rulers could never again threaten their neighbours and the stability of the region," he said on Wednesday.
Wolfowitz stressed the need for South Korea to hike its defence budget in an effort to increase allied combat power to deter North Korea.
"We believe that South Korea needs to spend more than its current 2.7 per cent of GDP to stengthen its defence capabilities," he said, adding Seoul's substantial economic development over the last few decades has made it capable of sharing even more of the defence burden than it already does.
The United States has said that it has launched a new effort to get the u n Security Council to declare that North Korea is failing to comply with its international obligations to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
While Pyong Yang has warned that any Security Council action would undermine peace efforts, and it has reiterated several times that it would regard UN sanctions as a declaration of war.
Bureau Report
"A war in Korea would be costly and destructive but there can be no question on the outcome," Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the house armed services committee. "We would vanquish the North Korean military and ensure its aggressive rulers could never again threaten their neighbours and the stability of the region," he said on Wednesday.
Wolfowitz stressed the need for South Korea to hike its defence budget in an effort to increase allied combat power to deter North Korea.
"We believe that South Korea needs to spend more than its current 2.7 per cent of GDP to stengthen its defence capabilities," he said, adding Seoul's substantial economic development over the last few decades has made it capable of sharing even more of the defence burden than it already does.
The United States has said that it has launched a new effort to get the u n Security Council to declare that North Korea is failing to comply with its international obligations to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
While Pyong Yang has warned that any Security Council action would undermine peace efforts, and it has reiterated several times that it would regard UN sanctions as a declaration of war.
Bureau Report