The Trump administration is literally saying it.
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The Trump administration signaled Friday that its frayed patience with North Korea’s regime has all but snapped.
“We’re out of time,” White House National Security Adviser General H. R. McMaster said. “There is a military option.”
U. N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has tried to marshal the world’s diplomats to stop North Korea’s efforts to develop a nuclear missile program, also showed that she is aware little has been accomplished.
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“I have no problem kicking it to Gen. Mattis because I think he has plenty of options,” she said at a White House news conference, adding that despite diplomatic efforts and economic sanctions, the North Koreans “continue to be provocative.”
Although Haley said sanctions against North Korea “have strangled their economic situation,” this week North Korea sent a ballistic missile over Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido in a test outsiders believe was designed to show North Korean missiles can reach U. S. forces on the island of Guam.
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According to North Korea’s news agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has told top officials that the final goal of Pyongyang’s efforts “is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the US and make the US rulers dare not talk about military option for the DPRK,” the acronym for the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.