Republished October 29, 2017 - 9:51 PM
Original Publication Date October 29, 2017 - 8:56 PM
MANILA, Philippines - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said someone should talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to convince him nobody is out to remove him or destroy his country.
"A nuclear war is totally unacceptable to everybody," Duterte said Sunday before flying to Japan, where he is on a two-day visit. "And somebody has to talk to Kim Jong Un."
Duterte said North Korea's nuclear threat is among issues he will discuss with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo and with President Donald Trump when Trump visits Manila next month.
He suggested the U.S., Japan, South Korea, and others assure Kim nobody is threatening him and to ask him to stop threating a nuclear attack.
"It would be good if America, Japan, Korea, and Mr. Kim Jong Un talk and to convince him to sit down on a round table and just tell him that nobody's threatening him, that there will be no war, and that if he can just tone down or stand down, stop the threats, and that would be the same for America," he added.
The one single country that can calm down Kim is China, Duterte added during his pre-departure news conference in southern Davao City.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017