WASHINGTON—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today made the following statement:

“North Korea's continued development of nuclear weapons and missiles, including yesterday's test of their longest range missile to date, poses a grave threat to the stability of the Asia Pacific region, to American interests, and to our allies. North Korea's current course is unacceptable but the costs of miscalculation on our part are also considerable. I urge the President to exercise caution as he considers possible responses to this North Korean provocation and to remain closely coordinated with our allies so we avoid the unthinkable human cost of another military intervention on the Korean Peninsula.

“Unfortunately, the President has not yet learned what many of us have long known: complex foreign policy issues do not get solved overnight. China will not change its perception of its own strategic interests just because of the force of the President's personality. It is naïve and short-sighted to think that a long-standing, dangerous problem can be addressed without a serious strategy and the determination to see it though.  Though the United States cannot outsource this challenge to Beijing, we must find a way to work with China—the country with the most influence over the North Korean regime—to solve this challenge. Dispensing with this option—as the President did in a recent tweet—is precisely the wrong step.”

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