The military option must remain on the table when it comes to North Korea, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Monday.
“I don’t think anybody could conceivably want a military solution to this problem,” Johnson said at the Chatham House in London, according to Reuters. “The possibility of some kind of military option … that possibility must at least theoretically be maintained on the table.”
He suggested President Donald Trump is right not to rule out the possibility of a pre-emptive military strike on North Korea. “It is the duty of the president at least to explore those military options and keep them on the table,” he explained.
“No one wants any kind of military solution to the problem,” Johnson said, adding, “Kim and the world need to understand that when the 45th president of the United States contemplates a regime led by a man who not only threatens to reduce New York to ‘ashes’, but who stands on the verge of acquiring the power to make good on his threat, I am afraid that the US president will have an absolute duty to prepare any option to keep safe not only the American people but all those who have sheltered under the American nuclear umbrella.”
The Trump administration has pursued a comprehensive pressure campaign using diplomatic, economic, and military measures to encourage the North to change course, but Trump has repeatedly warned that the U.S. is prepared to use military force against the rogue regime if necessary.
The president warned in August that North Korea’s threats will be met with “fire and fury” like nothing the world has ever seen before, and in his address before the United Nations General Assembly, Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if it launches an attack against America or its allies.
Speaking on Fox Sunday, Trump said that the U.S. was unbelievably prepared for a conflict with North Korea. “Would it be nice not to do that? The answer is yes. Will that happen? Who knows, who knows,” he added.
From the beginning, the administration has maintained that all options are on the table. The president and his team have come under fire for talk of a military option in North Korea.
North Korea has conducted nearly two dozen missile launches this year, including successful tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles, and just last month, the regime tested a suspected staged thermonuclear weapon. The North has not engaged in any major provocations in several weeks now.
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