A former high-ranking U.S. intelligence official says that North Korea’s claim of a successful intercontinental ballistic missile(ICBM) launch has rendered nearly every possible U.S. option to end the regime’s nuclear program useless.
 
On CBS’s “This Morning” on Tuesday, former Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) Deputy Director Michael Morell said there is no military option to destroy the North’s nuclear and missile programs without starting a second Korean War and raising the possibility of the North using nuclear weapons against its neighbors.
 
Morell said there is virtually no diplomatic action to be taken either, as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will not “negotiate away his nuclear weapons program.”
 
He said the only thing the U.S. can do is sanction North Korea every time it provokes, and build a missile defense system to defend itself as it is doing in South Korea, Hawaii, California and Alaska.
 
His remark is viewed as a prediction the North’s latest provocation will likely accelerate the temporarily suspended deployment of the U.S. THAAD antimissile system in South Korea. 

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