Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax TV on Friday that the United States was "not free at this point to try to take a preemptive attack" on North Korea because it would endanger South Korea and the thousands of American troops stationed in the region.
"North Korea is much more complicated, because it's so close to South Korea and we have so many American soldiers in harm's way in South Korea," the Harvard Law School professor emeritus told "Newsmax Now" hosts John Bachman and Miranda Khan in an interview.
"We're not free at this point to try to take a preemptive attack on North Korea without risking our soldiers and risking South Korea.
"The problem is once a country develops nuclear weapons, we have very little leverage," he said.
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North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile near Pyongyang early Saturday, according to news reports, but it failed seconds after it was launched.
Trump slammed the move as "bad" on Twitter, saying that Pyongyang "disrespected the wishes of China" with the test.
"We must get to a situation where North Korea can't use their nuclear weapons against our allies or against ourselves," Dershowitz told Newsmax. "It's a very, very difficult situation.
"We, at least, have to offer the opportunity for talking before firing shots," he later added. "We always have to offer that opportunity.
"But we may come to a point where we have little choice and little option — and that's the choice we can't afford to ever have when it comes to Iran."
Dershowitz has long slammed the Iran nuclear agreement negotiated by the Obama administration.
"So, once fooled, shame on them," he said. "Twice fooled, shame on us."
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