--- title: John McCain: Trump Knows Striking North Korea Is Last Option description: Arizona Sen. John McCain said President Trump knows that launching a preemptive military strike against North Korea is a last resort. canonical: https://time.com/4759126/john-mccain-north-korea-strike-option/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-28T11:53:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:39:15.126Z article:section: Politics og:title: John McCain: Trump Knows Striking North Korea Is Last Option og:description: Arizona Sen. John McCain said President Trump knows that launching a preemptive military strike against North Korea is a last resort. og:url: https://time.com/4759126/john-mccain-north-korea-strike-option/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43d2e2167caa25ed/6988caddab6d7771e16add44/gettyimages-673467348.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Senate Lawmakers Attend Briefing On North Korea At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John McCain: Trump Knows Striking North Korea Is Last Option twitter:description: Arizona Sen. John McCain said President Trump knows that launching a preemptive military strike against North Korea is a last resort. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43d2e2167caa25ed/6988caddab6d7771e16add44/gettyimages-673467348.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John McCain: President Trump Knows Striking North Korea Is 'Last Option'  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Apr 28, 2017 11:53 AM UTC  Sen. John McCain departs the U.S. Capitol for a briefing at the White House April 26, 2017 in Washington, DC. Sen. John McCain departs the U.S. Capitol for a briefing at the White House April 26, 2017 in Washington, DC.Win McNamee—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Apr 28, 2017 11:53 AM UTC Arizona Sen. John McCain said President Trump knows that launching a preemptive military strike against North Korea is a last resort. “I hope there’s a lot more to go before we have a preemptive strike,” McCain said Thursday, [Bloomberg reports](https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-27/trump-knows-striking-north-korea-is-last-resort-mccain-says?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm%5Fcontent=business&utm%5Fcampaign=socialflow-organic&utm%5Fsource=twitter&utm%5Fmedium=social). “They are exploring every option and the last option, and the least desirable option, is armed conflict.” “One of the major reasons is because of that artillery that’s north of Seoul,” McCain said, meaning that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has weapons he could unleash on South Korea’s capital. “That is really of concern.” Trump held a briefing for the Senate earlier this week on the administration’s strategy for North Korea, and an official [told reporters](http://time.com/4756685/trump-north-korea-military-preparations/?iid=sr-link1) that while they’re pursuing “an integrated effort to prioritize diplomatic and informational aspects of national power,” military preparations are “underway.” Trump [told Reuters](http://time.com/4758883/donald-trump-major-conflict-north-korea/?iid=sr-link2) Thursday, “There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4759126/john-mccain-north-korea-strike-option/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4759126/john-mccain-north-korea-strike-option/"},"headline":"John McCain: President Trump Knows Striking North Korea Is 'Last Option'","datePublished":"2017-04-28T11:53:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:39:15.126Z","description":"“I hope there’s a lot more to go before we have a preemptive strike,” he said","url":"https://time.com/4759126/john-mccain-north-korea-strike-option/","keywords":["Congress","North Korea","China","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43d2e2167caa25ed/6988caddab6d7771e16add44/gettyimages-673467348.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43d2e2167caa25ed/6988caddab6d7771e16add44/gettyimages-673467348.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Lawmakers Attend Briefing On North Korea At The White House","caption":"Senate Lawmakers Attend Briefing On North Korea At The White House","creditText":"Win McNamee—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":"https://time.com/4759126/john-mccain-north-korea-strike-option/","name":"John McCain: President Trump Knows Striking North Korea Is 'Last Option'"}}]}] ```