Nearly three-quarters of Americans are concerned the United States could get involved in a full-scale war with North Korea, even as a majority lacks trust in President Trump to handle the situation, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. 
 
 A new high of 66 percent say North Korea poses a "serious threat" to the United States, up from 54 percent in a 2005 Post-ABC poll and 55 percent in 2003, with concern spanning partisan and ideological lines. 
 
 The poll was conducted shortly after North Korea launched its farthest-reaching missile test to date in July with a range experts say could reach Alaska. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the missile test was a new escalation of the threat posed to the United States and the world, and that Washington would bring North Korea's action before the U.N. Security Council. 
 
 The Post-ABC poll finds lagging confidence in Trump to handle the situation, with 36 percent saying they trust Trump at least "a good amount" to deal with the issue, while 63 percent have "just some" or less confidence. Four in 10 say they do not trust Trump "at all" on the issue, nearly twice the number who express "a great deal" of confidence. 
 
 As with approval of Trump in general, there is a large partisan divide in the public's faith in Trump on this issue. An 81 percent majority of Republicans trust Trump at least a good amount to handle North Korea, while only 11 percent of Democrats say the same. Independents are closer to Democrats, with 31 percent trusting Trump a good amount or more while 66 percent trust him just some or not at all. 
 
 Ideological differences are also sharp but unbalanced. While 86 percent of liberals trust Trump just some or not at all to deal with North Korea, a smaller 66 percent majority of conservatives express faith in his leadership. 
 
 There are also political divisions in concerns about a full-scale war breaking out with North Korea. Overall, 74 percent of Americans say they are very or somewhat concerned about this prospect, including 39 percent who are "very concerned" while 35 percent are "somewhat concerned." 
 
 Democrats are about twice as likely as Republicans say they are "very concerned" about the United States getting involved in a full-scale war, 53 percent vs. 27 percent, with 36 percent of independents expressing significant concern. 
 
 Despite differing worries about a full-scale war, Democrats and Republicans see eye-to-eye when it comes to the threat North Korea poses: Two-thirds of Democrats along with 7 in 10 Republicans say that North Korea is a serious threat, and 65 percent of independents agree, all at least slightly higher than in 2005. 
 
 The poll finds concern that the United States will get involved in a war with North Korea peaks among African Americans, 63 percent of whom are "very" concerned, compared with 49 percent of Hispanics and 33 percent of whites. There is also a large gender gap, with 51 percent of women saying they are "very concerned" about the possibility compared with 27 percent of men. 
 
 Women have also become sharply more wary of the threat posed by North Korea than in the past. Fully 73 percent of women say North Korea is a serious threat, up 23 points from 2005, when 50 percent of women said the same. Among men, just under 6 in 10 at both time points have said North Korea is a serious threat. 
 
 The Post-ABC poll also finds an age gap in fears of North Korea, with 77 percent of Americans ages 40 and older saying the country poses a serious threat compared with 49 percent of people younger than 40. The younger group has not changed in their concern since 2005, while concerns among those over age 40 have grown by 19 percentage points. 
 
 The Post-ABC poll was conducted July 10-13 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults reached on cellular and landline phones. The margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. 
 
 Scott Clement contributed to this report. ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea does not have the ability to strike the United States with “any degree of accuracy” and while its missiles have the range, they lack the necessary guidance capability, the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Tuesday. 
 
 Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Air Force General Paul Selva speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, U.S., October 28, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron 
 
 Earlier this month North Korea said it had conducted its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and that it had mastered the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on the missile. 
 
 But General Paul Selva, speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the July 4th test stopped short of showing North Korea had “the capacity to strike the United States with any degree of accuracy or reasonable confidence of success.” 
 
 Pyongyang’s state media said the test successfully verified the atmospheric re-entry of the warhead, which experts say may be able to reach the U.S. state of Alaska. 
 
 “What the experts tell me is that the North Koreans have yet to demonstrate the capacity to do the guidance and control that would be required,” said Selva, the second highest-ranking U.S. military official. 
 
 South Korea’s intelligence agency also does not believe North Korea has secured re-entry capabilities for its ICBM program. 
 
 South Korea on Monday proposed military talks with North Korea, the first formal overture to Pyongyang by the government of President Moon Jae-in, to discuss ways to avoid hostile acts near the heavily militarized border. 
 
 The United States has remained technically at war with North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty and the past six decades have been punctuated by periodic rises in antagonism and rhetoric that have always stopped short of a resumption of active hostilities. 
 
 Tensions have risen sharply after North Korea conducted two nuclear weapons tests last year and carried out a steady stream of ballistic missile tests. 
 
 When asked about preemptive military operations against North Korea, Selva said he believed that “we have to entertain that potential option.” 
 
 “We need to think seriously about what the consequences of that action might be,” Selva said. ||||| The second-highest ranking military officer in the U.S. told Congress on Tuesday that while North Korea "clearly" has missiles with the capability to reach the United States, it does not have the capacity to strike accurately or successfully. 
 
 On July 4, North Korea successfully tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which traveled into a high-altitude trajectory of 1,730 miles and flew horizontally about 575 miles into the Sea of Japan. 
 
 "I ... am not sanguine that the test on the Fourth of July demonstrates that they have the capacity to strike the United States with any degree of accuracy or reasonable confidence of success," Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. 
 
 "On range, they clearly have the capability," he added. 
 
 Despite North Korea's success on July 4, experts assess that the regime does not presently have the re-entry technology needed for a nuclear warhead to reach its target. It's also believed that North Korea lacks the ability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead capable of being mounted on top of an ICBM. 
 
 But the test did demonstrate that this new missile -- if fired at the proper trajectory -- was capable of reaching Alaska. 
 
 AFP/Getty Images 
 
 "Testing an ICBM represents a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region, and the world," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement following the test earlier this month. 
 
 As with some previous missile tests, the ICBM was fired via a mobile-launcher, making it harder for U.S. intelligence to track the movement of North Korea's weapons, something Selva said concerned him. 
 
 "I'm reasonably confident in the ability of our intelligence community to monitor the testing but not the deployment of these missile systems," he said. "Kim Jong-un and his forces are very good at camouflage, concealment and deception." 
 
 Despite Tillerson's assertion that the ICBM test represented an "escalation of the threat" to the U.S., the Trump administration has insisted it will use diplomacy first in dealing with this latest provocation.
– When it comes to North Korea's ability to hit the the US with a nuclear warhead, there's good news and bad news. Gen. Paul Selva, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that North Korea "clearly" has missiles that can reach the US, ABC News reports. Selva said the ICBM tested by North Korea on the Fourth of July could reach Alaska. But, according to Reuters, Selva added that North Korea doesn't yet have the missile re-entry and guidance technology to hit a US target with "any degree of accuracy" or to have any "reasonable confidence of success" in the strike. Selva told the Armed Services Committee that while "we have to entertain" the possibility of a preemptive military strike against North Korea, the US also needs "to think seriously about what the consequences of that action might be." The Washington Post reports a poll conducted shortly after North Korea's July 4 missile test found 74% of Americans are concerned about a full-scale war with the country. And only 36% of poll respondents have "a good amount" of confidence in President Trump to handle the situation with North Korea.