A former senior U.S. official says "there is no quick military fix" to North Korea's nuclear issue.

Former deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration Antony Blinken contributed an opinion piece to the New York Times. In the article, Blinken said that much of North Korea’s nuclear complex is concealed underground, inside mountains or in places unknown to U.S. intelligence. 

He also said that even if the U.S. had an effective preemptive strike capacity, the consequences of using it could be prohibitive. He noted Pyongyang possesses thousands of artillery pieces 48 kilometers from Seoul and just one retaliatory salvo could decimate the South Korean capital.

Blinken said the answer then is a "comprehensive, sustained and relentless" international pressure campaign led by the U.S., South Korea, Japan and China.

He said this should raise the price of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s obstinacy to the point that he believes his survival is in jeopardy.

He also urged China, North Korea’s largest trade and investment partner, to curb imports from the North as it did with coal. He said that by doing so, Beijing can exert unique leverage, denying Kim Jong-un resources to fund his nuclear pursuits and buy off elites.

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