A top US military commander on Monday said that though military action remains an option for the president, Washington’s top priority is on diplomatic and economic means as a peaceful solution to the standoff with North Korea.

Marine Corps. Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the country is capable of defending the peninsula, Guam and the continental US, despite Pyongyang’s series of threats to launch an “enveloping fire” around the western Pacific island.

While vowing a “decisive response” to any enemy attack, he was seen downplaying the possibility of a potential US pre-emptive or preventive strike on North Korean facilities, stressing the need to focus on a nonmilitary approach.

“I think what is important is not to confuse military action with policy,” Dunford said at a news conference in Seoul.

“Our job is to make sure our leadership has an option available to them. I believe there are two things we are clear about -- one is our responsibility to defend against attack, and two is our requirement to make sure we have a decisive response in the event of attack.” 

His remarks were in line with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal published Sunday jointly by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, in which they said the administration’s “peaceful pressure campaign” involving diplomatic and economic means remains key to resolving the crisis.

Dunford, who met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in earlier in the day, said the sides did not discuss any pre-emptive war, and refused to speculate on what might happen if the ongoing campaign fails, calling it a “political decision” for President Donald Trump.

“So for the military perspective even, the military dimension for today is directly in support for that diplomatic and economic effort. We are seeking a peaceful resolution to the crisis. That is an important message,” he said.

“Do we have the capability to defend the peninsula? Do we have the capability to defend Guam and the United States? Yes we do now, and in the future. Based on the projection and capacity we have, we will make our adjustments to our force posture.”

His Asia tour, which included a stop in Tokyo over the weekend and was set to bring him to Beijing later in the day, is aimed at assessing the situation on the peninsula and exploring ways to defuse tension.

In Beijing, Dunford plans to raise the need for its thorough enforcement of the sweeping UN Security Council resolution adopted last week, while fostering military ties to build strategic trust, he said.

“One of the real purposes of my China trip unrelated to North Korea is military to military relations that will result in mitigating the risks of miscalculations and making sure that we have the ability to communicate in a crisis,” he said.

During an earlier meeting with South Korea’s Defense Minister Song Young-mo, he reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to defend South Korea and discussed ways to address the escalating threat from North Korea, ministry officials here said.

At a separate parliamentary session, Song said it is “highly unlikely” for Pyongyang to carry out missile launches toward Guam as suggested, although the regime has capability to do so.

The minister also downplayed the possibility that North Korea has secured key technologies that can deliver its intercontinental ballistic missile to the contiguous US, such as a miniaturized nuclear warhead and a reliable re-entry vehicle capable of withholding extreme heat and pressure when plummeting through the atmosphere.

“Based on the assessment between the allies’ high-level military generals, we believe (North Korea won’t fire the missiles),” Song said, adding that there is no guarantee that the North has succeeded in securing the re-entry technology and that the South Korean military does not acknowledge that the North has developed miniaturized nuclear warheads.

(jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)