North Korea Update: US Has 'No Good Military Options' Against Kim Jong Un, Ex-Ambassador Says

With each new weapons test, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un continued this month to inch closer to developing the ability to conduct a nuclear strike against the U.S. But while tensions with the isolated country have continued to escalate, the world's foremost military force has no viable options for striking the communist nation, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea said Sunday.

"There are no good military options," Christopher Hill, who served as former President George W. Bush's ambassador to South Korea from 2004 to 2005, said in an interview on New York's AM 970.

Read: North Korea Sixth Nuclear Test Next Month? Kim Jong Un's Regime Threatens War

"In the last few years, North Korea's threat has really grown," said Hill, who also served as ex-President Barack Obama's ambassador to Iraq from 2009 to 2010. "Now we are seeing them modernize their missile arsenal such that it's quite likely in the near future... North Korea will have a deliverable nuclear weapon. And then the question is, what are we all going to do about that?"

Despite conducting what U.S. military officials described as a failed missile test on Wednesday, North Korea remained undaunted and was still aggressively trying to build its nuclear weapons program, experts warned. U.S. officials believed the country was ready to conduct its sixth nuclear test.

But while the U.S. has isolated the country both through economic sanctions and a military presence in nearby South Korea and Japan, there seemed to be no way for the U.S. military to disarm North Korea without risking a retaliatory nuclear strike that would surely result in a catastrophic loss of innocent human life. There was no guarantee a military strike against the North Korean regime could totally eliminate the country's ability to launch a nuclear weapon.

On Sunday, Hill said the key to eliminating the North Korean threat was to work with China, a nation responsible for 90 percent of North Korean trade.

"We tried to have negotiations with them — that hasn't worked. But I think what could work is a much better understanding between the U.S. and China... I think we are going to have to really work more with China," Hill said.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said earlier this month the Donald Trump administration would take a new approach to North Korea, declaring the American era of "strategic patience" toward the regime over. He also added the U.S. would consider all options in dealing with the regime, including military options.

"Certainly, we do not want things to get to a military conflict ... but obviously, if North Korea takes actions that threatens the South Korean forces or our own forces, then that would be met with an appropriate response," Tillerson said at a news conference in Seoul earlier in the month.

The administration has been considering options that increase pressure on China, Reuters reported. U.S. officials have warned China about expanded sanctions that would target business and banks that do business with North Korea, most of which are Chinese, the news agency said.