Tillerson: US not looking for DPRK 'regime change'

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US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday that the US is not seeking to topple the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and is willing to sit down for talks with Pyongyang on the condition that it stops the pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Tillerson made the remarks at the State Department days after the DPRK tested its second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

"We do not seek a regime change, we do not seek a collapse of the regime, we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula, we do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th Parallel," Tillerson told reporters.

The DPRK fired off another intercontinental ballistic missile on July 28, 2017. /AFP Photo

"We are not your enemy ... but you are presenting an unacceptable threat to us, and we have to respond. And we hope that at some point they will begin to understand that we would like to sit and have a dialogue with them."

However, "a condition of those talks is there is no future where North Korea holds nuclear weapons or the ability to deliver those nuclear weapons to anyone in the region, much less the (US) homeland," he said.

US President Donald Trump has blamed China for not helping rein in DPRK's nuclear weapons program, but the country's top diplomat disagrees.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivers remarks from the briefing room of the US State Department in Washington, DC on August 1, 2017. /AFP Photo

"We certainly don't blame the Chinese for the situation in North Korea," said Tillerson. "Only the North Koreans are to blame for this situation, but we do believe China has a special and unique relationship, because of this significant economic activity, to influence the North Korean regime in ways that no one else can."

China has repeatedly stressed its opposition to the DPRK's missile launches, saying the acts violated UN Security Council resolutions. Given the complex and sensitive situation on the Korean Peninsula, China hopes all sides can exercise calm and restraint to ease tensions there and return to the right path of peaceful dialogue.

Last week after the launch of its latest ICBM, DPRK leader Kim Jong Un claimed that the DPRK could strike any target within the US territory, and US officials admitted that the missile may now be able to reach most of the country.

Trump's administration has said all options are on the table to address the DPRK issue, including military ones.

This file photo taken on July 28, 2017 shows US President Donald Trump delivering remarks on law enforcement at Suffolk Community College in Ronkonkoma, New York. /AFP Photo

Lindsey Graham, a leading Republican senator, on Tuesday said that Trump had told him he was willing to go to war with the DPRK "if they continued to try to hit America with an ICBM."

"He's told me that. I believe him," said Graham. "There is a military option: To destroy North Korea's program and North Korea itself."

"I prefer the diplomatic approach. But they will not be allowed to have a missile to hit America with a nuclear weapon on top."

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