North Korea presents embattled Trump White House with high-stakes test - Washington Examiner

President Trump confronted the greatest national security challenge of his young presidency on Tuesday when he threatened to meet the news that North Korea has developed a miniaturized nuclear weapon capable of fitting on a missile with "fire and fury like the world has never seen."

The development capped off months of speculation that North Korea had inched closer to producing nuclear weapons capable of hitting the United States, an advancement that would dramatically change the world's approach to dealing with Pyongyang. It also comes as Trump has faced legislative stalemates, staffing shake-ups, dwindling approval ratings and a general sense of crisis even as the nation was experiencing relative peace and prosperity.

Many experts believed North Korea was months from hitting the milestone revealed by the Washington Post on Tuesday, and the news could thrust Trump's embattled team into a major conflict for which there is no easy solution.

Although the White House had previously signaled that the American "era of strategic patience" with North Korea had ended, Trump's strategy for dealing with the belligerent regime had focused heavily on persuading China to leverage its influence with Pyongyang in order to move toward denuclearization.

Adm. James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in Europe, said relying on China and U.S. allies is key to addressing the North Korean threat.

"We need to double down on diplomacy and using the international community to address this collectively, especially China," Stavridis told the Washington Examiner. "In the end all roads to Pyongyang lead through Beijing."

Trump's vow to hit North Korea with "fire and fury" if it continues to threaten the U.S. suggested military action could be one of the options presently under consideration. Officials have so far remained tight-lipped about the specific strategies Trump is considering, as the president frequently criticized his predecessor's tendency to broadcast in advance what the U.S. planned to do in response to international conflicts.

"We do have a lot of options as long as we accept the fact that North Korea already has nuclear weapons," said Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest. "The day has come when we have to definitively say that North Korea is a nuclear state."

Kazianis said the most important step the administration can take is to limit the flow of resources into Pyongyang to prevent the North Koreans from obtaining even more dangerous weapons, such as a hydrogen bomb or a three-stage intercontinental ballistic missile.

"Ninety percent of North Korea's exports go to China one way or another," Kazianis said. "If China actually enforces the sanctions, then a billion dollars comes off the books for Pyongyang."

The escalating tensions between Washington and Pyongyang could offer Trump a chance to demonstrate the tough but nimble leadership he promised on the campaign trail.

During the presidential race, his opponents questioned whether Trump's volatile personality could inflame international conflicts and lead to unnecessary military confrontations.

For example, Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival in the general election, tweeted in November that voters should "[t]hink about what it would mean to entrust the nuclear codes to someone who lashes out at anyone who challenges him."

The North Korean nuclear threat could also test Trump's newly formed White House team. The president replaced his chief of staff late last month with John Kelly, his former homeland security secretary, and allowed Kelly to greenlight a controversial firing on the National Security Council last week.

H.R. McMaster, Trump's national security adviser, has clashed recently with chief strategist Steve Bannon over ideological differences that the debate over how to handle North Korea could further inflame.

McMaster was not with the president over the weekend and remained in Washington earlier this week, but the White House did not immediately clarify whether McMaster had traveled to Bedminster, N.J., where the president is spending most of the month of August, to join Trump in light of the North Korea news.

Trump's approval ratings have hit a snag this summer amid a series of legislative defeats and the expansion of the Russian collusion probe. The erosion of his support has further hampered his ability to wield influence over congressional Republicans who have proven reluctant to execute Trump's agenda on Capitol Hill.

However, presidents in the past have seen their approval ratings rise in the face of international conflicts or wars, as voters tend to rally around U.S. leadership in times of turmoil.

For example, Trump saw a minor boost to his numbers in April after he authorized the Pentagon to conduct a missile strike on a Syrian air base in response to Syrian President Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons. Most voters said they approved of the move.

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