North Korea has been fueling fears of World War 3 by ignoring calls from the international community to end its weapons’ development programme.
And North Korea expert Gordon Chang warned the US should prepare to fight off both Kim Jong-un and its allies China and Russia.
He said: “I think you need to have an honest conversation with the American people.
“That honest conversation has to take into account that we could end up in a war not only with North Korea but with its big-power sponsor China, and maybe even Russia.
“I’m not saying World War 3 is the end result but it is a possibility because the Chinese have already told us that.”
The author of ‘Nuclear Showdown” said Bejing had already signalled it would take Pyongyang’s side in a conflict despite pledging to help defuse the tension with the rogue East Asian nation.
Speaking to Fox News, Mr Chang continued: “In August, Beijing signalled that if the United States struck North Korea first then it would come in on North Korea’s side.
“We now actually got to do something because we caught the Chinese red-handed and really there’s no more room for giving them more chances.”
China was recently caught allowing oil to enter North Korea in spite of widely approved United Nations’ sanctions forbidding oil trade with Pyongyang.
US President Donald Trump slammed China for its double-edged behaviour, saying he was “disappointed” by Bejing.
Mr Trump wrote on Twitter: “Caught RED HANDED – very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly resolution to the North Korean problem if this continues to happen!”
North Korea was hit with a swathe of new sanctions after defying orders to terminate its nuclear development programme and conducting several missile tests – threatening both Japan and the US overseas territory of Guam.
According to senior US officials, “preliminary signs” of a missile test were shown by Kim Jong-un, making the US believe that the rogue state could be preparing to launch a new missile soon.
The US has also conducted many military exercises with South Korea and Japan throughout 2017, in an attempt to prepare against a military strike by the hands of North Korea.