North Korea has ramped up its nuclear and missile development over the past few months, sparking fears of World War 3.
President Donald Trump has pledged to “take care” of Kim Jong-un’s ruthless regime but has not yet succeeded.
Professor and former speechwriter Patrick Greenfield said the US must exhaust all diplomatic options before sparking a war on the hermit nation.
Appearing on Fox News, Mr Granfield said: “I think in order to have diplomacy work you do need to have a credible threat of force.
“Even though we are in the season of hope and joy and peace, I think we do really need to think seriously – think hard about the prospect of what a military confrontation, of what military actions against North Korea would entail in 2018.
“And this is difficult because ever since North Korea got a nuclear capability back in 2006 in the Bush administration there’s really been a lack of clarity about what the options are and about what we have to do.
“This is a year where we have to face the facts, we have to face the truth. And what that will require is for us to exhaust all diplomatic options available.”
Mr Greenfield said it is “encouraging” that Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis are “ratcheting up” the diplomatic pressure on North Korea.
In an effort to stop the rogue nation, the United Nations Security Council imposed tough new sanctions on North Korea after its continued missile testing.
The resolution seeks to ban nearly 90 percent of refined petroleum product exports to North Korea.
Following the UN vote, Donald Trump wrote on Twitter: “The United Nations Security Council just voted 15-0 in favour of additional Sanctions on North Korea. The World wants Peace, not Death!”
The North Korea foreign ministry responded to the UN sanctions and branded them an “act of war” and said: “We define this ‘sanctions resolution’ rigged up by the US and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our Republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the region and categorically reject the ‘resolution’.
“North Korea’s nuclear weapons are a self-defensive deterrence not in contradiction of international law.
“We will further consolidate our self-defensive nuclear deterrence aimed at fundamentally eradicating the US nuclear threats, blackmail and hostile moves by establishing the practical balance of force with the US.”