iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A Hawaii congresswoman said the false alert of a missile attack in her state shows the need to try to lessen the chance of nuclear warfare.

“Nuclear attack is not a game,” Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard said to ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” Sunday. She said she hopes “the rest of the country… leaders in Washington pay attention to … this threat of nuclear war.”

Stephanopoulos asked if she thinks the U.S. should talk to North Korea.

“Absolutely and immediately,” Gabbard said. “This is something that I have been calling for a long time. I have been talking about the seriousness of this threat posed to the people of Hawaii and this country coming from North Korea. The people of Hawaii are paying the price now for decades of failed leadership in this country of failure to directly negotiate” with North Korea.

The congresswoman added, “We’ve got to understand why Kim Jong Un is saying he’s not going to give up his nuclear weapons. Our country’s history of regime-change wars has led countries like North Korea to develop and hold on to these nuclear weapons because they see it as their only deterrent against regime change.”

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.