Mattis to file a report on WMD strike

James Mattis, a retired U.S. Marine Corps general tapped to be defense secretary in the incoming Trump administration, said last week he would submit a report on how American forces in South Korea will prepare to attack North Korean facilities for weapons of mass destruction, according to political sources in Washington.

The written statement was in response to a Senate Armed Services Committee’s request for Mattis to submit the papers. Mattis was said to have replied last Thursday Washington time that he would follow through. The committee required that the report include how American military personnel dispatched to the South will cooperate with the U.S. government in achieving the goal. Shin Won-sik, former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff operational headquarters, predicted the report will put “huge pressure” on Pyongyang and Beijing.

BY CHAE BYUNG-GUN AND JEONG YONG-SOO [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]