Trump Administration Discussed Military Operations During 2017 North Korea Nuclear Test... Revealed in New Book by US Journalist

President Donald Trump of the United States
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] During North Korea's nuclear test in 2017, there were discussions of a 'military option' within the Donald Trump administration, according to a national security correspondent for CNN in a new book.

Jim Sciutto, a CNN reporter, revealed on the 10th (local time) in his new book The Madman Theory: Trump Takes on the World that the public threats Trump made against North Korea via Twitter and other platforms were not merely bluffs.

On September 3 of that year, North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test, carrying out 16 tests over 10 months and launching 23 missiles. The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests in August and November provoked the United States.

According to Sciutto, there were private discussions within the U.S. Department of Defense and the White House National Security Council (NSC) about military options against North Korea, and Trump administration officials began to mention the possibility of military strikes, though not full-scale war. This was known as the so-called 'bloody nose strategy.'

The book also evaluates that in January 2018, when South Korea sent a delegation to Washington to inform President Trump that North Korea was ready for dialogue and that they could discuss not just limited nuclear negotiations but complete denuclearization, the deteriorating North Korea-U.S. relations reached a new turning point.

The author cites former U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Yun, saying, “They said North Korea could agree to denuclearization and wanted to meet President Trump,” and “President Trump responded to this,” describing the situation at the time.

The book expresses surprise at how South Korea and North Korea coordinated to have Chairman Kim approach President Trump, stating, “They intended to inflate expectations about what North Korea was willing to give up in order to bring President Trump to the negotiating table.”

While this had an immediate positive effect of pulling North Korea and the U.S. back from the brink of war, in the mid-to-long term it created illusions about denuclearization, and to some extent, the book argues that President Trump was used by both allies and adversaries.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.