U.S. President Donald Trump wants to end the North Korean nuclear crisis during his current term, and will likely use military means if diplomacy fails, an American senator said Sunday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) made the remark on Fox News, citing his conversation with the president three days earlier.
"He says he's going to end this conflict within his first term, that every other president has been played," Graham said. Trump's term ends in early 2021.
"President Trump told me three days ago that he wants to end this in a win-win way," the senator continued. "He thinks that's possible, but if they pull out, they play him, that we're going to end North Korea's threat to the American homeland in his first term and I'll let you surmise as to what that might look like."
Trump and Kim are set to meet in Singapore on June 12 to discuss the dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But the North threatened to pull out of the summit last week, saying the U.S. is trying to force "unilateral" denuclearization.
The senator on the Armed Services Committee warned that Trump will not tolerate being played.
"If they play Trump, if they try to nickel and dime Trump, and if they try to run out the clock on President Trump, then we're going to have a conflict and it's going to be in his first term," he said. "I'm highly confident of that because there is no other place to kick the can."
The U.S. has no interest in toppling Kim's regime, reunifying the Korean Peninsula or spreading democracy to North Korea, the senator said.
"We are trying to get them to give up their nuclear weapons program, and the Korean War and make it a win-win," he said. "If they don't show up, that's the end of diplomacy. If they do show up and try to play Trump, and that means military conflict is the only thing left. And if we have a conflict with North Korea, they will lose it, not us."
Graham also warned China against using its leverage over Pyongyang as a bargaining chip in trade talks with the U.S.
"China and North Korea have a chance to end the conflict in a win-win fashion and if it doesn't end soon, it's going to be a real mess and if there's a war, it will be in China's backyard, not ours," he said.
Moreover, the U.S. will not withdraw its 28,500 troops in South Korea as part of a nuclear deal with the North because their presence has been "stabilizing," he added. (Yonhap)