The U.S. came up with four or five different scenarios for resolving the crisis with North Korea, and “some are uglier than others,” National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster stated as tensions between the countries are increasing, Bloomberg reports.
While McMaster stated that the threat from Pyongyang is “much further advanced” than anticipated and the Pentagon said the president has a “deep arsenal” to draw upon if needed, U.S. officials rejected the claims of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho that President Donald Trump has declared war to Pyongyang at the UN.
“We’ve not declared war on North Korea,” Sarah Sanders, White House spokeswoman stated Monday. “And frankly the suggestion of that is absurd. We continue to seek the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
Governments of both countries have stated that “all options” are plausible in resolving the tensions, but the tensions escalated further with North Korea Foreign Minister’s remark on Monday in New York that the rogue country would have the right to shoot down U.S. warplanes flying in international airspace.
“The UN Charter acknowledges member states’ right of self-defense,” Ri said. “As the United States has declared a war, even though its strategic bombers don’t cross our border, we will come to own all rights to respond for self-defense including shooting down its planes at any time.”
North Korea bolstered its defense systems on the east coastline after being surprised by the bombers, which weren’t caught by its radar, Yonhap News reported, citing the head of the intelligence committee of South Korea’s parliament.
Military analysts believe that any conflict between the U.S. and North Korea would risk a devastating attack by Pyongyang on the South Korean capital Seoul.
“There’s not a ‘precision strike’ that solves the problem,” McMaster stated. “There’s not a military blockade that can solve the problem. What we hope to do is avoid war, but we cannot discount that possibility.”
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