A war could be sparked if Pyongyang continues to ignore international demand to end weapons test, Lindsey Graham a Republican senator revealed.
He said: “I don’t know how to say it any more direct: If nothing changes, Trump’s gonna have to use the military option, because time is running out.”
Donald Trump is “100 per cent made up his mind” that he will not allow Kim to reach the phase where he is able to marry an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US and a miniaturised nuclear warhead, the senator said.
There is a 70 per cent chance of war if Kim Jong-un tests another nuclear weapon, he warned.
With experts predicting war with North Korea would lead to massive amounts of casualties on the peninsular Mr Graham revealed the likelihood of war could massively increase.
He said: “I would say there’s a three in 10 chance we use the military option.”
The former Air Force serviceman said the chances of war would jump if Kim tested another nuke.
He said: “I would say 70 per cent.”
The Republican was able to make his prediction following a round of golf with the President in which they discussed the next move for the US in the troubled region.
Mr Graham revealed “Rocket Man” Kim comes up “all the time” during his golfing sessions with the leader of the free world.
The senator said: “War with North Korea is an all-out war against the regime”
“There is no surgical strike option.
“Their nuclear programme is too redundant, it’s too hardened, and you gotta assume the worst, not the best.
“So if you ever use the military option, it’s not to just neutralise their nuclear facilities—you gotta be willing to take the regime completely down.”
Painting a gloomy picture for Kim’s future Mr Graham said that although tensions have not quite reached tipping point yet after another test “all bets are off”.
Mr Graham called for direct talks with North Korea’s despotic regime to prevent the breakout of war.
He even suggested an unprecedented face-to-face meeting between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump to iron out a peace deal.
“I’m not taking anything off the table to avoid a war. When they write the history of the times, I don’t want them to say, ‘Hey, Lindsey Graham wouldn’t even talk to the guy.’”
Outlining solutions that would stop short of all-out war Mr Graham said he did not care if the communist state became a Chinese puppet state.
The Air Force veteran said: “I don’t care who [the Chinese] put in charge of North Korea, as long as that person doesn’t want to create a massive nuclear arsenal to threaten America.
“There are a couple ways for this to end: The Chinese could kill the guy if they wanted to, or they could just stop oil shipments to North Korea, which would bring Kim Jong-un economy to its knees.