The Pentagon’s top military officer said here Sunday the focus remains on finding a diplomatic solution to the North Korea missile crisis, even as the military works up viable options in case they become necessary. Amid heated rhetoric between President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, the military is quietly supporting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s effort to use diplomatic and economic pressure to avert war.

“As a military leader, I have to make sure that the president does have viable military options in the event that the diplomatic and economic pressurization campaign fails,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford in his first public remarks since the crisis escalated with North Korea’s launch of a second intercontinental ballistic missile late last month. READ MORE