International
Kim wants to “end the world”, don’t play into his hands, Duterte tells US
The President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte has warned the United States not to play into the hands of North Korea whose head strong leader Kim Jong Un “wants to end the world”.
While advising the US to exercise restraint, Duterte said the Southeast Asia region was extremely worried about tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, and said one misstep would be a “catastrophe” and Asia would be the first victim of a nuclear war.
Duterte who is chairman of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) said he would urge Trump not to get into a confrontation with Kim.
“There seems to be two countries playing with their toys and those toys are not really to entertain,” he told a news conference after the ASEAN summit in Manila, referring to Washington and Pyongyang.
Read also: Time to take action against N’Korea, Tillerson tells UN Security Council
“You know that they are playing with somebody who relishes letting go of missiles and everything. I would not want to go into his [Kim’s] mind because I really do not know what’s inside but he’s putting Mother Earth, the planet to an edge.”
China and Russia have both rebuked the US over proposed sanctions and military threat against North Korea.
Both countries expressed their displeasure at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on North Korea which also highlighted the diplomatic challenges of resolving tensions over Pyongyang.
The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the United Nations Security Council that it is time to take action against the North led by Kim Jong Un amid its continued missile activities.
Reacting to Tillerson’s call, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the 15-member council it was not only up to China to solve the North Korean problem.
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