North Korea sparked fears of World War 3 after ending a two-month lull in Kim Jong-un’s weapons testing programme to launch the rogue state’s highest-ever ICBM.
Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump became embroiled in a rhetoric war after the North Korean dictator said he would target a US airbase on the Pacific Island of Guam.
Mr Trump promised to retaliate to any aggression from North Korea with “fire and fury”, evening threatening to “totally destroy” the hermit nation if it even attempts to target the United States.
The US has led attempts to squeeze North Korea financially using sanctions, refusing to lift the trade bans unless Kim Jong-un gives up his ambitions for nuclear weapons.
However, Mr Trump’s Administration has now said it is willing to sit down with North Korean officials in an attempt to hammer out a diplomatic solution to the tension.
Defence Secretary Rex Tillerson said he would even happily speak about the weather with Pyongyang if it meant they were both sitting around the same negotiating table.
General Jack Keane said as it stands the world is “heading to a military solution” to end the tension on the Korean peninsula.
He told Fox News: We are trying to impose economic sanctions. Listen, we all know sanctions take time to squeeze this regime.
“So, here we’re heading to the use of a military option. I am convinced that the Chinese and North Koreans are beginning to now wake up – this is not President Bush, this is not President Obama, this is President Trump and he’s dead serious about the potential use of a military option.”
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said the possibility of military conflict still remains low.
The Senator, however, predicted a significant upwards shift in the possibility if Kim Jong-un fires another test missile.
Senator Graham said: “I should say there’s a three in ten chance we use the military option.
“If the North Koreans conduct an additional test of a nuclear bomb – their seventh – I would say 70 per cent.”
US President Donald Trump is now trying to get Vladimir Putin and Russia onside to put an end to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
The pair discussed bilateral relations and the situation in the Korean Peninsula during a telephone call, the Kremlin said in a statement this evening.
The White House added that both “discussed working together to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea”.
Trump also reportedly thanked his Russian counterpart “for acknowledging America’s strong economic performance in his annual press conference,”
Both leaders agreed to continue contacts, the Kremlin added but did not provide further details.