National Security Council Director H.R. McMaster also said the Trump administration has gamed out “four to five” scenarios in which the North Korea nuclear threat is resolved.
“Some are uglier than others,” he said in a speech hosted by the Institute for the Study of War.
According to Bloomberg, North Korea’s government claimed on Monday that Trump had essentially declared war in a belligerent speech to the United Nations General Assembly last week in which he disparaged the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, as “Rocket Man.” Kim’s government said it had the right to shoot down US warplanes flying in international airspace as a result.
“What we hope to do is avoid war, but we cannot discount that possibility,” McMaster said. He said it would be “unacceptable” for North Korea to achieve a ballistic missile tipped with a nuclear warhead, technology the country has not yet demonstrated.