Sanctions are starting to take effect against North Korea, but what is different this time around is "we are out of time" when it comes to dealing with the country's increased aggressions, including Thursday night's missile launch over Japan, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Friday.
"I think we ought to make clear, what is different about this approach, is we are out of time, we've been kicking the can down the road and we are out of road," McMaster said during a press briefing, where he appeared alongside U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. "For those who've been commenting about the lack of a military option, there is a military option. It's not what we prefer to do."
Rigorous enforcement of the sanctions is important, so the economic and diplomacy can progress as best they can," said McMaster.
"What we have to do, is call on all nations, call on everyone to do everything they can," said McMaster. "What's different, I think, about this approach to North Korea is worth noting. First of all, there is consensus among all key nations that denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is the only acceptable objective."
Second, he continued, "this is not an issue between the United States and North Korea. This is an issue between the world and North Korea."
There is time needed, though, for any strategy to work, but enforced sanctions are "a sound approach to a very difficult problem, and we will see if it succeeds," said McMaster.
But if not, "we will defend our people and our values against these cowardly attacks, and we will always stand with countries around the world to do the same," he said.
President Donald Trump will attend the United Nations' General Assembly next week, and his consistent message is "first to promote peace, second to promote prosperity, and third, to uphold sovereignty and accountability," he said. "A peaceful world depends on the contributions of all nations. We must share responsibility for national security while each country protects the security of its own people."
Trump also wishes to further economic cooperation, investment opportunities and new business ties with other governments around the world.
"As always, this administration's ironclad commitment to free, fair, and reciprocal trade and access to markets will be the bedrock of our economic talks," said McMaster. "Sovereignty and accountability are the essential foundations of peace and prosperity. America respects the sovereignty of other countries, and expects other nations to do the same end urges all governments to be accountable to their citizens."
Trump's Tuesday morning speech will promote peace and prosperity while upholding sovereignty and accountability, said McMaster.
"The president will meet with the leaders of Jordan, the Palestinian authority, United Kingdom and Egypt," he continued. "He will host a working lunch with African leaders to discuss how the United States can help African nations develop their economies, address urgent challenges and strengthen security relationships and economic relationships between our nations. Finally, on Thursday, the president will meet with the leaders of Turkey, Afghanistan and Ukraine. The latter two countries in particular have suffered direct and persistent attacks on their sovereignty in recent years."
Trump also plans a lunch with the leaders of South Korea and Japan, he said. "As Kim Jong Un's most recent missile launch demonstrates, North Korea remains one of the world's most urgent and dangerous security problems. It is important that all nations work together to do our utmost to solve that problem."
Haley commented that next week will "not be short on topics."
"We can all say it is a new day at the UN," she said. "The UN has shifted over the past several months. The members are starting to get us to act, whether it is with UN reform, whether it's with peacekeeping, we are starting to see a lot of changes."
Next Tuesday's address will be Trump's first before the General Assembly, Haley continued, and they are all "very anxious" to hear what he will say.
The president will highlight the UN reform package, being led by the secretary general to streamline processes and the budget, to make the UN more effective, said Haley.
Vice President Mike Pence also will conduct briefings to the Human Rights Council and another on peacekeeping.
"Basically we have saved half a billion dollars in peacekeeping, but before anyone thinks that's a travesty, basically the way they handle peacekeeping in the past was if there was a challenged area they would throw more troops added," Haley said. "But they didn't see if the troops were trained or give them the equipment to do their jobs. Now we are going towards the political solution, making sure the troops are trained and armed, making sure we are more effective. So it's smarter and cut half a billion dollars and we are in some cases having to increase in some cases having to decrease."
Meanwhile, when it comes to sanctions, they are proving effective, said Haley.
"They cut 30 percent of the oil [imports], banned all of the laborers, banned 90 percent of the exports, banned joint ventures," Haley said. "In the words of North Korea, we've strangled their economic situation.
But, she stressed, if North Korea continues to be provocative and "reckless," there will not be much the Security Council will be able to do. I have no problem kicking it to [Defense Secretary] Gen. James Mattis, because I think he has plenty of options."
Also during the briefing, McMaster was asked what Trump meant in a tweet about the early morning terror attack in London, when he claimed the perpetrators "were in the sights of Scotland Yard."
"I think what the president was saying is that all of our law enforcement efforts are focused on this terrorist threat for years," he said. "Scotland Yard has been a leader as our FBI has been a leader. I think if there was a terrorist attack here, we would say they were in the sides of the FBI. I don't think he meant anything beyond that."