The White House is reportedly considering a pre-emptive military strike against North Korea

The White House might use military force to deal with North Korea.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

A pre-emptive military strike is one of several options for dealing with North Korea that may be presented to President Trump in a White House strategy review document, The Wall Street Journal reports. The review includes a broad range of possibilities, from forcible regime change to American acceptance of North Korea as a nuclear state.

Though the president has publicly maintained he will stay the course on U.S.-North Korea relations, "U.S. officials have underscored the possible military dimensions of their emerging strategy in recent discussions with allies," the Journal says, citing unnamed sources familiar with the diplomatic talks. For example, during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's February meetings with Trump, military options were reportedly mentioned multiple times as a means of dealing with Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

The review comes amid the ongoing investigation of the assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and follows Pyongyang's test launch of a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan last month.

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For dueling analyses on why invading North Korea is either necessary or insane, check out these articles from The Week's Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry and Harry J. Kazianis.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.