WASHINGTON -- A naval blockade may be the best feasible option to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program, according to a former US Navy officer.

Retired Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Keeley made the argument in a recent contribution to The Hill, saying there is a history of successful naval blockades that forced the adversary into submission.

"The Trump administration seemingly has only two potential responses, both of them bad," he wrote. "Option one is direct kinetic military action to halt Kim's development of nuclear capabilities. The second is to learn to live with a nuclear-armed despotic regime."

A third option -- a naval blockade in the East Sea and the Yellow Sea -- would stop North Korea from obtaining raw materials and equipment for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.