Instead, they've said the administration's strategy focuses on increasing pressure on North Korea with the help of its main trading partner, China. President Donald Trump's secretary of state, defense secretary, top general and national intelligence director were to outline for them the North's escalating nuclear capabilities and US response options, officials said.
US officials have warned that a conflict with North Korea could have a devastating effect on ally South Korea and USA troops based there, a point Pyongyang underscored by a big live-fire exercise on Tuesday to mark the foundation of its military.Harris conceded that North Korean retaliation to any USA strikes could cause many casualties, but added that there was the risk "of a lot more Koreans and Japanese and Americans dying if North Korea achieves its nuclear aims and does what (North Korean leader Kim Jong Un) has said it's going to do".
It also points out South Koreans are not flooding supermarkets to stock up on food, no plans for mass evacuation or additional US military deployments are being implemented, and USA embassy diplomats' families are not being advised to leave the country.
But it certainly reflected the increased American alarm over North Korea's progress in developing a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike the US mainland.
Top Trump administration officials will hold a rare briefing on Wednesday at the White House for the entire U.S. Senate on the situation in North Korea, senior Senate aides said on Monday.
America's Pacific forces commander, Adm. Harry Harris Jr., told Congress on Wednesday the system would be operational within days. He said any North Korean missile fired at US forces would be destroyed. MIDDLE EAST Israel's intelligence minister says his country wants an "understanding" with the Trump administration that Iran must not be allowed to establish a permanent military foothold in Syria.
The U.S.is sending the Vinson to waters near the Korean Peninsula in a show of force amid concerns about North Korea's nuclear and missile development.
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On France 2 television, Macron said the 48-year-old Le Pen would bring disaster to the economy and divide it with "hatred". Melenchon's spokesman Alexis Corbiere said the hard-left firebrand would not endorse anyone.
"China is the key to this", Sen. "The objective of this briefing is to tell us the situation and the intelligence we have and what (are) the options we have".
"I didn't hear anything new because I have been heavily briefed before", said Senator John McCain, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Harris said he believed Pyongyang's threats needed to be taken seriously and that the United States may also need to strengthen missile defenses in Hawaii.
China's special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs, Wu Dawei, held talks Wednesday with his Japanese counterpart, Kenji Kanasugi, amid rising tensions and speculation that North Korea may soon carry out another nuclear or missile test. The statement said that Seoul and Washington have been pushing to get THAAD working soon to cope with North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile threats. It said it would win in a "death-defying struggle against the USA imperialists". Harris said the US has "a lot of pre-emptive options", but he declined to provide specifics in an open setting.
The Chinese envoy for North Korea says China and Japan have agreed to coordinate in seeking to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and in urging North Korea to refrain from making further provocations.
China has been angered, however, by USA deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile defense system in South Korea, complaining that its radar can see deep into China and undermines its security. The U.S. says it will only target North Korean missiles, but China and Russian Federation see the system's powerful radars as a security threat.
In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said THAAD would upset the "strategic balance" in the region. The nation has for decades had a conventional retaliatory capability, built around artillery, which could wipe out large chunks of South Korea and cause calamitous amounts of casualties.
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