The president reportedly agrees with former President Obama that North Korea is the United States’ chief security problem.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Donald Trump at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on Feb. 11, 2017, in Palm Beach, F.L. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
President Donald Trump, at the behest of a member of his national security council, may entertain the idea of direct military action, or even regime change, against North Korea, the Wall Street Journal reported.
K.T. McFarland, the deputy national security adviser, held a meeting with other officials in which she asked for all options to be considered with how to deal with an increasingly isolated Pyongyang. These options are now being vetted, and then will be reviewed by the president, the Journal reports.
"U.S. officials have underscored the possible military dimensions of their emerging strategy in recent discussions with allies, according to people familiar with the talks," the Journal noted.
Following North Korea's latest missile launch in February, Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, together in Mar-A-Lago at the time, addressed the exercise.
"North Korea's most recent missile launch is absolutely intolerable," Abe remarked, with Trump adding, "I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent."
China and North Korea are holding high-levels talks this week in Beijing, "the first known high-level meeting in nearly a year," the Journal said. But as Washington and Tokyo grow closer, Beijing and Pyongyang's relationship is by all appearances more precarious than in years past. China recently cut North Korea coal imports. And the alleged North Korean-backed assassination of Kim Jong Nam, who was reportedly protected by Chinese guards while living in the Chinese gambling city of Macau, isn't making matters any easier.
For his part, Trump believes that North Korea is the "greatest immediate threat" to the U.S., according an anonymous senior administration source who spoke to CNN.
But if so, Trump would appear to concur with the outgoing assessment of President Barack Obama's administration, who reportedly told Trump much the same after his victory in November.
