 US senator says Trump ready for war with North Korea Washington (AFP) Aug 1, 2017 - A Republican senator said Tuesday 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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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson promised Tuesday that the United States is not trying to topple Kim Jong-Un's North Korean regime, but warned it must halt its nuclear missile program.
Briefing reporters on diplomatic efforts to pressure Pyongyang, Tillerson said Washington would be willing to talk to the North if its leaders accept that they must disarm.
"We don't think having a dialogue where the North Koreans come to the table assuming they're going to maintain their nuclear weapons is productive," he warned.
But he sought to reassure the isolated authoritarian regime that it does not need a nuclear arsenal to defend itself from a US attack.
"We do not see a regime change. We do not seek the collapse of the regime. We do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula," he promised.
"We do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th parallel. And we're trying to convey that to the North Koreans.
"We are not your enemy. We're not your threat, but you are presenting an unacceptable threat to us, and we have to respond."
US President Donald Trump has demanded that China, North Korea's neighbor and biggest trade partner, rein in its nuclear ambitions -- angrily tweeting over the weekend that Beijing is not doing enough.
But here too, Tillerson was more diplomatic.
"We certainly don't blame the Chinese for the situation in North Korea," Washington's top diplomat said.
"Only the North Koreans are to blame for this situation, but we do believe China has a special and unique relationship, because of this significant economic activity, to influence the North Korean regime in ways that no one else can."
Last week, Kim boasted that North Korea could now strike any target in the United States after carrying out its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test.
Republican foreign policy hawk Senator Lindsey Graham said Trump is ready to launch a devastating military strike if diplomacy fails to stop the nuclear missile threat.
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