During an interview with MSNBC, White House National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster stated that all options were on the table when it comes to U.S. policy toward North Korea. The interview was taped on Wednesday (days before the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a new sanctions measure against the hermit kingdom), but aired on Saturday.
McMaster even threatened “preventive war” if the North Koreans continued to rapidly accelerate their nuclear weapons program.
“What you’re asking is, are we preparing plans for a preventive war, right?” said the national security professional in response to a question from MSNBC host and conservative pundit, Hugh Hewitt. “A war that would prevent North Korea from threatening the United States with a nuclear weapon. And the president’s been very clear about it. He said he’s not gonna tolerate North Korea being able to threaten the United States. If they have nuclear weapons that can threaten the United States, it’s intolerable from the president’s perspective. So of course, we have to provide all options to do that. And that includes a military option.”
McMaster appeared clear-eyed in the face of the rogue regime’s recently successful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests, but refused to elaborate on North Korea’s weapons capabilities, noting only that the regime poses a major threat to Southeast Asian allies as well as the Untied States.
McMaster stated:
It’s impossible to overstate the danger associated with this. I think it’s impossible to overstate the danger associated with a rogue, brutal regime, I mean, who murdered his own brother with nerve agent in an airport. I mean, think about what he’s done, in terms of his own brutal repression of not only members of his regime but his own family.
Regarding the scope of the danger posed by North Korea, McMaster added: “I’m not going to confirm [whether the latest ICBM could reach anywhere in the U.S.] but whether it could reach San Francisco or Pittsburgh or Washington, I mean how much does that matter? It’s a grave threat.”