PARIS, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Wednesday expressed reservations about escalating rhetoric between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), urging more diplomatic pressure to end the nuclear crisis.
In an interview with BFMTV news channel, Le Drian warned that the verbal clash between U.S. President Donald Trump and DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un has made "the world living in a dangerous period" of unprecedented tension since the end of the Cold War.
"There could be an incident, we need to avoid incidents...so the necessity to act strongly to make North Korea (DPRK) sit on the table of negotiation," he added.
"We have to be extremely firm. Sanctions have been taken, reinforced," he stressed.
In recent weeks, Trump and Kim exchanged bellicose statements, escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula and raising prospects of military action after Pyongyang conducted its sixth missile test on Sept. 3.
Last week, Trump warned to "totally destroy" the DPRK if Pyongyang continues to threaten the United States and its allies. In response, Pyongyang threatened Washington of "the highest-level hardline countermeasure in history."
The U.S. president tweeted over the weekend that the DPRK would not be "around much longer," and DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said it amounted to a declaration of war. The White House later clarified that Washington has no intention of entering into armed conflict on the peninsula.
China has discouraged the two countries from escalating their war of words and has repeatedly expressed the hope that both U.S. and DPRK statesmen have the wisdom to realize that resorting to the use of force is not an option for resolving the peninsula issue.
