US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley made it clear Washington faces an extremely tough situation over how to handle the war-mongering hermit kingdom.
Tensions have ratcheted up further in recent days, with President Donald Trump blustering that 25 years of dialogue has failed and only “one thing” will work against rotund despot Kim Jong-Un.
The stark threat has ramped up World War 3 fears, with many calling on the president to resign over his “terrifying” tweets.
But the US General made it clear his military is ready to act on North Korea – and there is a swift timeline on when they will do so.
Speaking to reporters in Washington yesterday, Mr Milley said: “A full-blown war on the Korean Peninsula will be horrific by any stretch of the imagination. No one has any doubts about that.
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“It would be horrible, there’s no question about it, but so would an intercontinental ballistic missile striking Los Angeles or New York City. That would be equally horrible.
“There are no good, easy, you know, risk-free options here. This is extraordinarily difficult, extraordinarily dangerous. No one should underestimate it.”
The final decision on which course of action would be taken would be made by elected policy makers and not the military.
However he said his troops were ready to act, adding “there is a timeline” on action given the speedy development of North Korea’s missile program.
He added: “That decision will be made by the duly elected representatives of the United States of America.
“It’s not an indefinite amount of time. And there will be decisions made, there’s no question about it.”
His comments come as Mr Trump’s most senior US General told the army to “stand ready” for war with North Korea.
General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis warned it is impossible to tell what the future holds for the crisis, but urged US troops to be prepared for a confrontation with Kim Jong-un.
He said: “It is right now a diplomatically led, economic-sanction buttressed effort to try to turn North Korea off this path.
“Now what does the future hold? Neither you nor I can say, so there is one thing the US Army can do.
“And that is you have got to be ready to ensure that we have military options that our President can employ if needed.”