A Republican senator said today that US President Donald
Trump has told him he would go to war to destroy North Korea rather than allow
it to develop a long-range nuclear-armed missile.
Influential lawmaker Lindsey Graham, a foreign policy
hawk, told NBC's Today Show: "There is a military option: To destroy North
Korea's program and North Korea itself."
Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un boasted that
his country could now strike any target in the United States after carrying out
its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test.
World powers have been trying to stifle Pyongyang's
weapons program through United Nations-backed sanctions, but have failed to
daunt the regime and Washington is growing frustrated.
Graham said that if diplomacy, and in particular pressure
from the North's neighbor China, fails to halt the program then the United
States will have no choice but to take devastating military action.
"They've kicked the can down the road for 20 years.
There will be a war with North Korea over the missile program if they continue
to try to hit America with an ICBM," he said, describing his discussions
with Trump.
"He's told me that. I believe him. If I were China,
I would believe him, too, and do something about it. You can stop North Korea,
militarily or diplomatically.
"I prefer the diplomatic approach. But they will not
be allowed to have a missile to hit America with a nuclear weapon on top."
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