Mattis warns war with North Korea would be 'catastrophic'

Defense Secretary James Mattis warned of grave consequences for failure to resolve the United States' differences with North Korea via diplomacy while speaking on CBS Sunday.

"A conflict with North Korea would probably be the worst kind of fighting in most people's lifetimes," Mattis said in a Face the Nation interview. "This regime is a threat to the region, to Japan, to South Korea. And in the event of war, they would bring danger to China and to Russia as well," he added. "But the bottom line is it would be a catastrophic war if this turns into a combat if we're not able to resolve this situation through diplomatic means." Pyonyang claimed to test an anti-aircraft missile Sunday morning, its third weapons test in as many weeks.

In the same conversation, Mattis described pursuing a more aggressive approach to the fight against the Islamic State. "The bottom line is we are going to move in an accelerated and reinforced manner, throw them on their back foot. We have already shifted from attrition tactics where we shove them from one position to another in Iraq and Syria, to annihilation tactics where we surround them," he said. Watch an excerpt of his comments below. Bonnie Kristian

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