President Trump on Friday suggested that his administration would consider striking North Korea militarily if sanctions against the regime failed to curtail its aggression, noting the outcome could be “very, very unfortunate for the world.”
“We’ll have to see,” Trump told reporters at the White House while standing alongside Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull when asked about the prospect of using military force against North Korea.
Trump said he believes the U.S. has the backing of the international community when it comes to dealing with North Korea, whose nuclear ambitions have ratcheted up tensions between Pyongyang and Washington.
“If the sanctions don’t work, we’ll have to go to phase two, and phase two may be a very rough thing,” Trump said. “It may be very, very unfortunate for the world.”
Trump has long refused to take a military strike off the table, despite his defense secretary’s reported opposition to such an approach. North Korea has rapidly expanded its nuclear capabilities over the past several years even as the U.S. and other countries have hit Pyongyang with sanctions.
The president’s North Korea strategy has focused heavily on encouraging China to use its influence in Pyongyang to pressure the regime into abandoning its pursuit of nuclear weapons capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.
