AKIPRESS.COM - The U.S. is considering a range of options, from expanded economic sanctions to military operations, as it reaches out to allies in confronting North Korea’s latest provocations, according to a senior Trump administration official, Bloomberg reported.

North Korea’s ballistic missile test early Saturday was in “open defiance” of the international community, and the risk to the U.S. will not be tolerated, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Sunday.

“We do have to do something” with partners in the region and globally “that involves enforcement of the UN sanctions that are in place,” McMaster said on the “Fox News Sunday” program. “It may mean ratcheting up those sanctions even further. And it also means being prepared for military operations, if necessary.”

North Korea’s latest missile test came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson mounted an effort at the United Nations on Friday to rally pressure against Kim Jong Un’s regime. Trump has stepped up pressure to prevent Kim from obtaining the capability to hit North America with a nuclear weapon, and he’s threatened to act unilaterally if China fails to do more to curb its neighbor’s activities.

McMaster said Trump has been “masterful” in courting China, which accounts for the vast majority of trade with Pyongyang.