At last, a voice of reason after all the chest thumping over Pyongyang

It is good that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has made a clear statement of America's non-belligerent posture towards North Korea.

Without his voice of sobriety, the chest thumping on all sides after Pyongyang's latest missile test, deemed by analysts to put most of North America within reach, seemed as if it were getting out of hand.

The US and South Korea held a joint live-fire exercise the very next day. Seoul then tested its Hyunmoo-II, a missile able to penetrate thickly protected fortifications. US President Donald Trump put out the word that he was prepared to destroy North Korea, if US Senator Lindsey Graham is to be believed. Mr Graham quoted Mr Trump as saying: "If there's going to be a war to stop , it will be over there. If thousands die, they're going to die over there. They're not going to die here." Washington then ordered all its citizens to leave North Korea by Sept 1.