What military options are open to the US in tackling North Korea?
Donald Trump has threatened to ‘destroy’ the provocative nation, but how could that, or a less extreme goal, actually be achieved?
The United States has not been shy about threatening military action against North Korea.
As Pyongyang continues its march towards nuclearisation, US President Donald Trump has threatened to “totally destroy” the reclusive authoritarian regime with “fire and fury”, reiterating that “all options are on the table”. But he did not say how and when.
US Secretary of Defence James Mattis earlier threatened North Korea with a “massive military response” after the hermit nation conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.
Neither Trump nor Mattis, however, have ever given specifics of what an attack might involve.
While the defence secretary has acknowledged that war with North Korea would be catastrophic in terms of human suffering – for North Koreans as well as neighbouring Japan and South Korea, both US allies – Washington has grown increasingly frustrated with Pyongyang’s intransigence in equipping itself with nuclear weapons.
