US senator says Donald Trump ready for war with North Korea

Columbia: A Republican senator said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump has told him he would go to war to destroy North Korea rather than allow it to develop a long-range nuclear-armed missile.

Influential lawmaker Lindsey Graham, a foreign policy hawk, told NBC`s Today Show: "There is a military option: To destroy North Korea`s program and North Korea itself."

Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un boasted that his country could now strike any target in the United States after carrying out its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test.

World powers have been trying to stifle Pyongyang`s weapons program through United Nations-backed sanctions, but have failed to daunt the regime and Washington is growing frustrated.

Graham said that if diplomacy, and in particular pressure from the North`s neighbor China, fails to halt the program then the United States will have no choice but to take devastating military action.

"They`ve kicked the can down the road for 20 years. There will be a war with North Korea over the missile program if they continue to try to hit America with an ICBM," he said, describing his discussions with Trump. 

"He`s told me that. I believe him. If I were China, I would believe him, too, and do something about it. You can stop North Korea, militarily or diplomatically. 

"I prefer the diplomatic approach. But they will not be allowed to have a missile to hit America with a nuclear weapon on top."