--- title: Donald Trump: 'Major Conflict' with North Korea Possible description: President Trump said that while a conflict is possible, he wants to seek a peaceful resolution to the North Korea question. canonical: https://time.com/4758883/donald-trump-major-conflict-north-korea/ author: Kevin Lui article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-28T01:44:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:39:05.525Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Says 'Major Conflict' With North Korea Is Possible og:description: But he said that a diplomatic solution would be preferable og:url: https://time.com/4758883/donald-trump-major-conflict-north-korea/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34f37c69d17c1830/6988cb10196cf4630203fe3c/rts149ce.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: U.S. President Donald Trump stands in the Oval Office following an interview with Reuters at the White House in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Says 'Major Conflict' With North Korea Is Possible twitter:description: But he said that a diplomatic solution would be preferable twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34f37c69d17c1830/6988cb10196cf4630203fe3c/rts149ce.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says a 'Major Conflict' With North Korea Is Possible > 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 [Kevin Lui](https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Apr 28, 2017 1:44 AM UTC  President Trump stands in the Oval Office following an interview with Reuters at the White House in Washington, April 27, 2017. President Trump stands in the Oval Office following an interview with Reuters at the White House in Washington, April 27, 2017. Carlos Barria—Reuters by [Kevin Lui](https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Apr 28, 2017 1:44 AM UTC Just ahead of his 100th day in office, U.S. President Donald Trump said [that a conflict with North Korea](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-exclusive-idUSKBN17U04E) could be a possible outcome to the escalating tensions brought about by the country’s nuclear ambitions and missile testing, but a diplomatic solution would be preferable. “There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea,” he told Reuters in an exclusive interview Thursday in the Oval Office. Trump added that “we’d love to solve things diplomatically but it’s very difficult,” telling Reuters that he and his administration are seeking a peaceful resolution to the North Korea question, in part by preparing a slew of fresh economic sanctions while not ruling out a military solution. Read more at[ Reuters.](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-exclusive-idUSKBN17U04E) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4758883/donald-trump-major-conflict-north-korea/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4758883/donald-trump-major-conflict-north-korea/"},"headline":"President Trump Says a 'Major Conflict' With North Korea Is Possible","datePublished":"2017-04-28T01:44:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:39:05.525Z","description":"But he said that a diplomatic solution would be preferable","url":"https://time.com/4758883/donald-trump-major-conflict-north-korea/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","North Korea","White House","Donald Trump","Korean Peninsula","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34f37c69d17c1830/6988cb10196cf4630203fe3c/rts149ce.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin Lui","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34f37c69d17c1830/6988cb10196cf4630203fe3c/rts149ce.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Donald Trump stands in the Oval Office following an interview with Reuters at the White House in Washington","caption":"U.S. President Donald Trump stands in the Oval Office following an interview with Reuters at the White House in Washington","creditText":"Carlos Barria—Reuters","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/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4758883/donald-trump-major-conflict-north-korea/","name":"President Trump Says a 'Major Conflict' With North Korea Is Possible"}}]}] ```