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Graphic shows key positions of the players in the North Korean crisis.
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POLITICS

Diplomacy amid North Korea crisis

By Duncan Mil

August 21, 2017 - North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un may have hidden a secret message to the United States in his boasts to “wring the windpipes of the Yankees.” A statement from Pyongyang suggests Kim will watch U.S. behaviour for a conciliatory gesture before giving the order to launch a salvo of missiles towards Guam.

The signal comes as South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in told a gathering he will prevent war in Korea “at all costs” and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he is committed to working with U.S., South Korea, Russia and China to ensure that North Korea doesn’t launch more missiles.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has offered to dispatch a diplomatic delegation to the Korean Peninsula to mediate between Pyongyang and Seoul.

The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford, is travelling to Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing as annual U.S. and South Korean military exercises, which begin on August 21, risk further increasing tensions with North Korea.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 15/08/2017; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Associated Press
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