All 100 senators were invited to a classified briefing at a building next to the White House on Wednesday (US time), reports AFP.
Members of the Senate said they hoped the administration would seek to deal with Pyongyang through diplomacy, rather than the use of force.
"What you've seen is a really integrated effort to prioritize diplomatic and informational aspects of national power", the senior administration official said.
Indeed, on Monday, the US and South Korea expressed that no more missile or nuclear tests would be tolerated, comments that suggest tensions could literally blow up into all-out war at any moment.
Doing so, of course, comes with a huge price, as while the U.S. has downplayed North Korea's ability to retaliate with nuclear weapons, they have a substantial conventional weapons program developed for decades specifically to respond to just such an incident. Which ones the president chooses - and when - will reflect "how the situation develops in the future".
"We have to take some concerted action", House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, a Republican from California, told reporters afterwards.
Asked by a reporter to clarify what preparations are underway, the official declined to provide more information, saying, "I don't think we're going to describe those in any detail".
In a repeat of often-heard rhetoric, North Korea's foreign ministry issued a fresh warning that "in case a war breaks out on the peninsula, the US will be held wholly accountable for causing trouble after bringing lots of strategic assets and special warfare means".
"We are engaging responsible members of the global community to increase pressure on the DPRK", reads the statment, referring to North Korea by it's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
United Kingdom could join fight in Syria 'without MPs' approval'
She said: "It seems Boris Johnson has finally been allowed out of hiding, on the condition he only talks delusional nonsense". We and our allies face threats from countries with a nuclear weapons capacity and from those trying to acquire that capacity.
"I didn't hear anything new because I have been heavily briefed before", said Sen.
It was unclear Monday how many senators plan to attend the briefing.
Congressional aides intimated that the briefing was shifted to the White House to send home the message to North Korea that the United States is serious about a change in policy.
The meeting will be attended by some of Trump's top cabinet members, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson - who will chair the meeting - and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. But it was implied.
President Donald Trump wants to pressure North Korea through tighter sanctions and diplomatic channels, but the United States is "prepared to defend" itself and allies, top Trump administration officials said in a statement Wednesday.
Spicer clarified that while the event will take place on the White House campus, it is technically a Senate briefing and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is the one who convened it.
All 100 US senators have been invited to the White House on Wednesday for a classified briefing that will primarily concern North Korea, the administration announced Monday.
On the other hand, Pyongyang remains defiant, including of China, warning that if it helped the USA, the results would be "catastrophic".
The carrier's announced detour north contributed to concerns that a conflict might be imminent, especially because it came shortly after the Trump administration had launched a missile strike in Syria and dropped the so-called mother of all bombs in Afghanistan. NSC leaders also are starting to frame some threats as "opportunities" so the administration can "advance toward those objectives", the official added.
Comments