US military prepared to counter North Korean threat

Senior US officials on Friday said the military is ready to counter the threat from North Korea, after a White House aide dismissed talk of a "military option.Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are trying to pressure North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons program and come to the table.

While they stress they want to convince Kim Jong-Un's regime through diplomatic means of the need to disarm, they have not dropped the threat of military action. But their stance was partly undermined on Thursday when President Donald Trump's strategy chief, Steve Bannon, told a news magazine: "There's no military solution." A day later, Mattis and Tillerson faced questions about Bannon's remarks as they appeared with their Japanese counterparts at a State Department press conference. "I don't want to comment on what Bannon's remarks were in that particular interview," Tillerson said.

"I think we have been quite clear as to what the policy and the posture towards North Korea is," he said. "Our approach has been endorsed by the president." Tillerson warned again that North Korea faced a "bleak future" if it does not agree to negotiate disarmament, and Mattis insisted that US regional allies are ready. "In close collaboration with our allies, there are strong military consequences if the DPRK initiates hostilities," the Pentagon chief told reporters. Meanwhile, the US and Japan will step up their defense cooperation to deal with the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea.