Tillerson to chair UN meeting on North Korea

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans on chairing a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council on North Korea this Friday in New York City, according to a spokesman.

“The D.P.R.K. [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] poses one of the gravest threats to international peace and security through its pursuit of nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and other weapons of mass destruction as well as its other prohibited activities,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement Monday.

“The meeting will give Security Council members an opportunity to discuss ways to maximize the impact of existing Security Council measures and show their resolve to respond to further provocations with appropriate new measures.”

{mosads}Trump hosted a working lunch Monday with ambassadors from the U.N. Security Council countries, according to the White House.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., is president of the Security Council this month, a duty that rotates between the permanent members — the U.S., United Kingdom, France, China and Russia.

Haley earlier Monday warned North Korea against provoking the U.S. amid rising tensions with Pyongyang following a missile test and the country’s efforts to advance its nuclear weapons program.

“What we have said from the beginning, and what I’ll continue to say, is the United States is not looking for a fight so don’t give us a reason to have one,” she said on NBC’s “Today.”

North Korea said Sunday that its military could sink a U.S. aircraft carrier that President Trump is sending to the region “with a single strike.”

The USS Carl Vinson and Japanese navy ships are currently conducting exercises in the Philippine Sea.