Is war between the US and North Korea likely?

A pre-emptive, surgical strike against Kim Jong Un is risky, but his regime will soon have a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile, say Isabel Reynolds and Enda Curran.

WITH the window closing fast for the US to stop Kim Jong Un from obtaining a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile, North Korea watchers are analysing US president Donald Trump’s military options.

Trump warned on Tuesday that North Korea would be met with “fire and fury”, if it continued to make threats. After the UM agreed to its most stringent sanctions yet on Kim’s regime, North Korea repeated its stance that its nuclear weapons programme was necessary to deter a US invasion. For Trump and the US, there are no easy choices.