(LEAD) McMaster says there is military option against N. Korea

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details from 6th para; ADDS photo)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- The United States has not ruled out military options against North Korea, President Donald Trump's national security adviser said Friday, after Pyongyang launched another missile over Japan.

"There is a military option," H.R. McMaster said during a press briefing at the White House, flanked by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

Adding it is not the preferred option, he urged all nations to do more to rein in the North, which he called "one of the world's most urgent and dangerous security problems."

North Korea launched what appeared to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile over northern Japan early Friday (local time), defying international calls to halt its provocations.

Trump will meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York next Thursday, McMaster said.

The U.N. Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting later Friday to discuss their response to the latest launch, which came only three days after the council unanimously approved new sanctions on Pyongyang for its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3.

The sanctions include restrictions on North Korea's oil imports and a ban on its textile exports, after an earlier resolution in August sought to slash the country's US$3 billion annual export revenue by a third.

"We try and push through as many diplomatic options as we have," Haley said. "What we're seeing is they continue to be provocative and reckless. There's
not a whole lot the Security Council is going to be able to do from here."

The ambassador said she has "no problem kicking it to Gen. Mattis," the U.S. Defense Secretary, because "I think he has plenty of options."

The increasing levels of sanctions will cut off 90 percent of North Korea's trade.

"There's always more you can do, but there you get into the humanitarian asepct of it," she said, talking about how it could hurt North Korean citizens.

hague@yna.co.kr
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