The United States should not reward North Korea's "bad behaviour" toward rival South Korea, top US military officer Mike Mullen said Sunday, adding that Pyongyang is striving to "get attention."
In an interview with CNN, Mullen, the chairman of the US joint chiefs on staff, said North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's "unpredictability" made it difficult to understand the regime's motivations.
"I am one who believes we shouldn't be rewarding bad behaviour here. And yet he continues to generate that behaviour in hopes that he can get attention - enough attention to move in some direction that's, quite frankly, not determined," Mullen said. Mullen also called on China to take a stronger stand against Pyongyang, which he said poses a serious threat.
"It's hard to know why China doesn't push harder," he said, adding they try to keep Kim under control. "I'm not sure he is controllable," Mullen said.