Pentagon chief accuses N.Korea of threatening 'catastrophe'
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis accused North Korea on Friday of building a nuclear arsenal to "threaten others with catastrophe" and said the Trump administration remains committed to compelling the North to accept complete nuclear disarmament.
Calling the North a threat to global order, Mattis stood inside the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas and pledged solidarity with the South.
"We stand should to shoulder with you and the Korean people in confronting the threats posed by the Kim Jong Un regime," Mattis said as South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo looked on.
Mattis called the North "an oppressive regime that shackles its people, denying their freedom, their welfare and their human dignity in pursuit of nuclear weapons and their means of delivery in order to threaten others with catastrophe."
