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US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia Heino Klinck speaks during a Korea-US Alliance Foundation conference in Washington, DC, on Dec. 4. (Yonhap News)

On Dec. 4, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia Heino Klinck said 4 that the option of military action against North Korea was “never taken off the table.”

While attending a Korea-US Alliance Foundation conference in Washington, DC, that day on the wartime operation control transfer, Klinck was asked for his position on remarks the previous day from US President Donald Trump, who said, “If we have to [use military force], we’ll do it.”

“The military option was never taken off the table,” Klinck said.

“The military exists to serve as a deterrent. It serves as a stabilizing force,” he added.

Klinck also said this was a basic fact rather than something applying solely to the Korean Peninsula or the US, adding that the US military was training to deter attacks.

“We, the Department of Defense, have provided the space, and intentionally so, for the diplomats of the State Department to do their work,” he said.

“We have shown restraint by not responding to every single North Korean provocation, whether it was a rhetorical provocation, or something like a missile test,” he continued.

“There may come a time where our response may be different, and where the lead for the State Department may switch to something else,” he added. Klinck’s remarks, made by a Pentagon official, could be seen as a warning that the Defense Department rather than the State Department could assume a front-and-center role in responding to North Korea.

Following Trump’s remarks about the use of a military response, Pak Jong-chon, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army and the second-ranked figure in the North Korean military hierarchy, released a statement reporting that “the Supreme Commander of our armed forces [leader Kim Jong-un] was also displeased to hear it.”

“I clearly state here that if the US uses any armed forces against the DPRK, we will also take prompt corresponding actions at any level,” Pak also said.

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

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