up north has very little interest in giving up that capability. we should continue as an international body, continue to push for that. diplomacy should always be the option of first choice. as they ve always said and secretary mattis has said, look, the military capabilities are phenomenal. the coalition partners on the pen lanes of the united states and south korea have been in place over 60 years. they are brothers in arms and have exercised conflict in exercises and command post exercises what conflict would look like. con contingencies have been addressed. that remains in place and that s the message that the north continues to get through this kind of op-ed. and on the u.s. s willingness to talk. willing to negotiate with pyongyang but given the long record of north korea s dishonesty in negotiations violations of international agreements it is incumbent upon