Faced With China’s Inaction, US Officials Say Military Option Against North Korea Inevitable

The United States (US) is ready with military options if North Korea continues with its provocative acts of nuclear missile tests. However, the US administration has also underlined that such an action could risk thousands of lives in South Korea, where millions of innocent people including the US troops in range of North Korea's current missile capabilities, says a report published in the CNN.

This comes soon after US President Donald Trump publicly accused China of inaction on North Korea. He has, in the past, accused China of not doing enough to prevent the North Korean regime from developing long-range missiles.

The report says, "While all war game scenarios show the US winning a military confrontation, that victory could come at the cost of hundreds of thousands of deaths, mostly in South Korea, where millions of innocent people – and nearly 30,000 US troops – are already in range of North Korea's current missile capabilities."

Officials have said revised military options to prevent North Korea from developing a nuclear missile capable of hitting the US have been prepared and will be presented to President Donald Trump soon.

"There is a military option to destroy North Korea's (missile) program and North Korea itself," Graham said. "If there's going to be a war to stop them, it will be over there. If thousands die, they're going to die over there, they're not going to die here and President Donald Trump told me that to my face."

He continued: "I'm saying (military options are) inevitable if North Korea continues."

"What we have to do is to 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," CNN quoted National Security Adviser H R McMaster as saying during remarks at a Washington think tank.

North Korea conducted a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile on 3 July and 28 July, and Kim Jong-un has claimed that the "entire US mainland" is now within range of his Hwasong-14 missiles. (ANI)