Just a few minutes ago, Secretary of Defense James Mattis made a statement on the latest provocation by North Korea:

TRANSCRIPT:

A small group national security meeting today with the president and the vice president about the latest provocation on the Korean Peninsula.

We have many military options and 00:14 president wanted to be briefed on each one of them.

We made clear that we have the ability to defend ourselves and our allies South Korea and Japan from any attack and our commitments among the Allies are ironclad.

Any threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam or our allies will be met with a massive military response. A response both effective and overwhelming. Kim Jong Un should take heed of the United Nations Security Council’s unified voice. All members unanimously agreed on the threat North Korea poses and they remain unanimous in their commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Because we are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea, but, as I said we have many options to do so.

Thank you, very much ladies and gentlemen.

Some Twitter reactions:

Very stark words from Mattis on North Korea: "We are not looking for the annihilation of North Korea, we have many options."

— Julia Manchester (@JuliaManch) September 3, 2017

https://twitter.com/NarangVipin/status/904429642685272070

Because "winning" isn't worth it. Just live with a nuclear North Korea.

— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 3, 2017

We’re seeing the sides begin to coalesce. The think-tank set is all in favor of letting the North Koreans be able to threaten US cities. On the government-legislative side of the US government there is an emerging agreement that letting North Korea threaten the US is not something anyone wants.