U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations confirmation hearing at Dirksen Senate Office Building, Jan. 15, in Washington, D.C. AFP-Yonhap

Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio stressed the need Wednesday for Washington to take a "serious" look at North Korea policy to explore how to lower the risk of "inadvertent" war between the two Koreas and prevent a crisis on the Korean Peninsula without encouraging countries to seek their own nuclear arms.

During a confirmation hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Florida senator also accused "rough states" and "dictators" in the North, Russia and Iran of sowing "chaos," and China of having "lied, cheated and stolen" its way into a global superpower status at the expense of the United States.

In November, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Rubio as his top diplomat — a post facing a full plate of foreign policy challenges, including an intensifying rivalry with China, Russia's war in Ukraine and North Korea's evolving security threats to name a few.

"Looking at the policy and seeing what can we now do that (stabilizes) the situation, that lowers the risk of an inadvertent war, be it between South Korea and North Korea, maybe including Japan at this point and ultimately the United States," he said.

"What can we do to prevent a crisis without encouraging other nation states to pursue their own nuclear weapons program. That's the solution we'd like to get to," he added.

In response to Sen. Brian Schatz's claims that America's North Korea policy, including sanctions, is a "broken" one that has only seen Pyongyang doubling down on its nuclear and missile programs rather than slowing them, he highlighted the need to take a "serious" review of Washington's policy approach.

"I think there has to be an appetite for a very serious look at broader North Korean policies," he said.

He admitted that he was initially skeptical about engagement with Pyongyang, but he highlighted what Trump had achieved through his meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his first term. Trump had three in-person meetings with Kim, including the first-ever summit in Singapore in 2018.

"I'll be frank. I was one of the people very skeptical about it, but (Trump) sort of reached out to Kim Jong-un, walked away from negotiations twice and ultimately did not reach something enduring. But here's what he was able to achieve in that engagement," he said.

"He stopped testing the missiles. That didn't stop the development of the program but at least calmed the situation quite a bit."

Rubio depicted the nature of the North Korean leader's adherence to its nuclear program based on Schatz's description of the dynastic ruler's dogged and defiant pursuit of its weapons programs at the expense of its own people.

"But I do think what you are pointing to is the following: You have a 40-something-year-old dictator who has to figure out how to hold down to power for the rest of his life. He has used nuclear weapons as his insurance policy to stay in power," he said.

"It means so much to him that no amount of sanctions has deterred him from developing that capability. In fact, (it) has not even kept him from having the resources to develop it."

In his opening statement, he expressed his concerns over security challenges from North Korea, China, Russia and Iran among others.

"In Moscow, in Tehran, in Pyongyang, dictators and rogue states now sow chaos and instability, and align with and they fund radical terror groups, and they hide behind their veto power at the U.N. Security Council or the threats of nuclear war," he said in his opening statement.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations confirmation hearing at Dirksen Senate Office Building on Jan. 15, in Washington, D.C. AFP-Yonhap

On China, he showed his hard-line stance, adding to speculation that Sino-U.S. tensions would deepen during the second Trump administration.

"We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into the global order, and they took advantage of all of its benefits and they ignored all of its obligations and responsibilities," he said.

"Instead, they have lied, cheated, hacked and stolen their way into global superpower status, and they have done so at our expense and at the expense of the people of their own country."

Touching on the Taiwan issue, the nominee raised concerns over the possibility of China invading the self-governing island democracy, which Beijing claims as part of its territory under a one-China principle.

"I think we need to wrap our head around the fact that unless something dramatic changes, like an equilibrium, where they conclude that the costs of intervening in Taiwan are too high, we're going to have to deal with this before the end of this decade."

On the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Rubio pointed out that NATO member states are 'rich' and should contribute more to their defense.

Trump has said NATO states should spend 5 percent of gross domestic product on defense — much higher than the current 2 percent guideline of the alliance. The demand has raised the prospects of the incoming president asking South Korea and other allies to increase their security contributions.

"I think there's been broad acknowledgement across Europe and across multiple administrations, both Republican and Democrat, that our NATO partners ... these are rich, advanced economies, need to contribute more to their own defense and ultimately to the NATO partnership as well," he said.

He went on to say that what matters is for the U.S. not just to have defense allies, but to have "capable" allies that are able to defend their region.

Still, he underscored the importance of the transatlantic alliance, calling it "very important" and "very useful."

Regarding Russia's protracted war in Ukraine, he asserted the need to end it -- a task that he said will require "bold" diplomacy.

"It is important for everyone to be realistic. There will have to be concessions made by the Russian Federation, but also by the Ukrainians," he said. "It's also important that there be some balance on both sides."

Rubio showed his negative view on the postwar global order, under which he believes countries have manipulated to serve their interest at the expense of America.

"The postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us," he said. "And all this has led us to a moment in which we must now confront the single greatest risk of geopolitical instability and generational global crisis in the lifetime of anyone alive here today."

He underscored his readiness to realize Trump's America First credo, saying every policy the U.S. purses must be justified with the answer to three questions: whether it makes America "safer," "stronger," and "more prosperous."

"Under President Trump, the dollars of hardworking American taxpayers will always be spent wisely and our power will always be yielded prudently, and toward what is best for America and Americans above all else," he said. (Yonhap)