Seoul: Military action by the United States against nuclear-armed North Korea is an "option on the table" if the threat from the rogue regime escalates, Washington's top diplomat Rex Tillerson said on Friday.
The strong comments from the secretary of state, in Asia for his first foray into crisis management, appear to signal a sea change in American policy towards the isolated country.
"We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security, economic measures. All options are on the table," Tillerson told reporters at a joint press conference with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-Se.
"Certainly we do not want to, for things to get to military conflict," he said. "If they elevate the threat of their weapons programme to a level that we believe require action, then, that option's on the table."
North Korea has a long-standing ambition to become a nuclear power, saying it needs to be able to defend itself, and conducted its first underground atomic test in 2006, in the teeth of global opposition.
Four more test blasts have followed, two of them last year.
On Saturday Tillerson will head to Beijing to press it to do more.
"I don't believe we have ever fully achieved the maximum level of action that can be taken under the UN security council resolution with full participation of all countries," he said.
"We know that other nations can take actions." Beijing shares US concerns over Pyongyang's attempts to build an arsenal of nuclear devices, but has also blamed Washington for escalating tensions.
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