--- title: North Korea: White House Says Military Preparations Underway description: President Trump has determined a course of action for responding to North Korea's continued nuclear missile development program. canonical: https://time.com/4756685/trump-north-korea-military-preparations/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-26T20:27:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:37:22.747Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House: Military Preparations 'Underway' for North Korea og:description: "He's made a decision for us to pursue a certain course." og:url: https://time.com/4756685/trump-north-korea-military-preparations/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7306313987a67bb/6988caafbc6cfca24e3e1117/trump9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: President Trump Delivers Remarks At National Day Of Remembrance Ceremony og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House: Military Preparations 'Underway' for North Korea twitter:description: "He's made a decision for us to pursue a certain course." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7306313987a67bb/6988caafbc6cfca24e3e1117/trump9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Administration: Military Preparations 'Underway' for North Korea > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Apr 26, 2017 8:27 PM UTC  President Trump listens at the Days of Remembrance ceremony in Washington, on April 25, 2017. President Trump listens at the Days of Remembrance ceremony in Washington, on April 25, 2017. Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Apr 26, 2017 8:27 PM UTC President Trump has determined a course of action for responding to [North Korea’s continued nuclear missile development program](http://time.com/4753859/north-korea-tensions-military-exercises/), a senior administration official told reporters Wednesday, with [U.S. military preparations](http://time.com/4753859/north-korea-tensions-military-exercises/) “underway” for potential action. “What the president has done is he’s made a decision for us to pursue a certain course,” the official told reporters in the White House briefing room, “and that course obviously has a number of options associated with it depending on how the situation develops in the future. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Trump plans include “a broad range of options, obviously, across all elements of national power and multinational power in connection with North Korea.” “What you’ve seen is really an integrated effort to prioritize diplomatic and informational aspects of national power, but also what you’ll see soon is using the economic dimension of national power as well as the military preparations that are underway,” the official said, barely 100 yards from where the entire U.S. Senate was receiving a briefing on the administration’s strategy for North Korea. Earlier this month the Pentagon [ordered the _USS Carl Vinson_](http://time.com/4751913/north-korea-sink-aircraft-carrier/) and its escort ships to the waters off the Korean Peninsula, and this week the U.S. military deployed the THAAD anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea to respond to North Korea’s continued missile tests and nuclear development. But the comments from the official indicated that more dramatic action is being contemplated. Trump Administration officials have escalated their rhetoric against North Korea in recent weeks, emphatically maintaining the right to launch a unilateral strike against that country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Asked by a reporter to clarify what preparations are underway, the official declined to provide more information, saying, “I don’t think we’re going to describe those in any detail.” Among the options, the official said, the administration is considering placing North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The official said the economic component of the strategy involves further working to deprive North Korea of access goods needed to develop the programs in violation of UN sanctions. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4756685/trump-north-korea-military-preparations/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4756685/trump-north-korea-military-preparations/"},"headline":"Trump Administration: Military Preparations 'Underway' for North Korea","datePublished":"2017-04-26T20:27:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:37:22.747Z","description":"President Trump has determined a course of action for responding to North Korea's continued nuclear missile development program.","url":"https://time.com/4756685/trump-north-korea-military-preparations/","keywords":["Military","North Korea","White House","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7306313987a67bb/6988caafbc6cfca24e3e1117/trump9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7306313987a67bb/6988caafbc6cfca24e3e1117/trump9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Delivers Remarks At National Day Of Remembrance Ceremony","caption":"President Trump Delivers Remarks At National Day Of Remembrance Ceremony","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4756685/trump-north-korea-military-preparations/","name":"Trump Administration: Military Preparations 'Underway' for North Korea"}}]}] ```