 On November 20, 2017, Trump officially announced re-listing North Korea as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.In December 2017, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen said during an interview with Martha Raddatz on ABC's This Week that the United States did not solve diplomatically, and warned that North Korea was closer to a Nuclear War with United States.He said in a statement, "We're actually closer, in my view, to a nuclear war with North Korea and in that region than we have ever been"

On February 15, 2018, after previous media reports, the Trump administration denied considering a so-called preemptive "bloody nose" attack on North Korea's nuclear program.