Pentagon: Military Option Revised for DPRK

According to officials the Pentagon has finished its revisions to the list of options available to the United States against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, including one detailing a military response, CNN reported Thursday.

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“What we have to do is prepare all options because the President has made clear to us that he will not accept a nuclear power in North Korea and a threat that can target the United States and target the American population,” U.S. National Security Adviser HR McMaster said in Washington.

McMaster also said that the Chinese leadership have a “great deal of control” over the DPRK through their economic relationship, criticizing their supposed failure to act. China and the DPRK are trade partners, and the Trump adminstration has pushed Chinese leadership to apply economic pressure.

Remarks by CIA director Mike Pompeo imply that the DPRK is a top priority for the U.S. President Donald Trump.

“I hardly ever escape a day at the White House without the President asking me about North Korea and how it is that the United States is responding,” he said to MSNBC last weekend.

Meanwhile, the DPRK ambassador to the United Nations delivered a statement on Wednesday to the UN Security Council saying that the United States has consistently attached unjust conditions to its offer to engage in talks.

“The United States kept saying about 'dialogue' even at this moment” when sanctions have been adopted, ambassador Kim in Ryong said.

“It does not make sense to profess about dialogue with unjust preconditions attached and by applying maximum pressure,” he continued.

The United States has said that it will not participate in talks until the DPRK halts its fledgling nuclear program and stops all missile tests. The DPRK maintains however that the construction of such weapons is within its sovereign right, and is necessary to deter foreign aggression.