Rep. Lee Zeldin said Wednesday he would encourage President Donald Trump to use military force against North Korea "as a last option" to prevent a missile launch on the United States.
"What we can't allow the military to do is launch an ICBM toward the United States," the New York Republican, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Pamela Brown on CNN. "We need to be prepared to go that route, but that is definitely a last option."
Diplomacy is the best route, Zeldin said, and "we certainly have leverage in that particular region and how we choose to use it.
"It's important to send a strong message that we are willing to use any option, which includes the stick part of the diplomacy and economics.
"We should apply pressure on Chinese companies, on Chinese individuals, on financial institutions.
"It's not something that we want to do," he said, "but it's something that we have available.
"The Chinese need to know that we're serious because that is definitely better than going to war with North Korea."
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