Mattis praises diplomatic effort to deal with North Korea

Defense Secretary James Mattis said Thursday that while he has military options ready to counter any nuclear threat from North Korea, the effort to prevent the situation from escalating is being "diplomatically led."

Following missile launches by North Korea last month, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley was able to get a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the country's tests and sanctions, and "that didn't just happen by accident," Mattis told reporters. His responsibility is to "have military options if needed," and while the U.S. is "ready" to take on any threat from North Korea, he added, he won't share any details. "I'm not going to tell the enemy what we're going to do."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.