The Trump administration is applying a “peaceful pressure campaign” on North Korea, the heads of the Defense and State departments wrote in an op-ed on Sunday.

Lawmakers in both parties raised concerns that President Trump's rhetoric on North Korea over the past week exacerbated an already-delicate situation, and the op-ed appears to be an attempt to tamp down the heated rhetoric.

“While diplomacy is our preferred means of changing North Korea’s course of action, it is backed by military options,” wrote Defense Secretary James Mattis James Norman MattisBiden courts veterans amid fallout from Trump military controversies Trump says he wanted to take out Syria's Assad but Mattis opposed it Gary Cohn: 'I haven't made up my mind' on vote for president in November MORE and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Rex Wayne TillersonGary Cohn: 'I haven't made up my mind' on vote for president in November Kushner says 'Alice in Wonderland' describes Trump presidency: Woodward book Conspicuous by their absence from the Republican Convention MORE in the op-ed, which was published by The Wall Street Journal.

“The U.S. is willing to negotiate with Pyongyang,” they wrote.

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The Trump administration’s approach, they argued, is a replacement for past administrations’ “failed policy of ‘strategic patience,’ which expedited the North Korean threat.” They call the approach “strategic accountability.”

The op-ed also emphasizes China’s role in pressuring North Korea to de-escalate its nuclear program.

“Our diplomatic approach is shared by many nations supporting our goals, including China, which has dominant economic leverage over Pyongyang,” according to the op-ed. “This affords China an unparalleled opportunity to assert its influence with the regime.”

Trump has previously said he is "disappointed" China does nothing but "talk" on North Korea and urged the country to do more to halt North Korea's rapidly advancing nuclear program.

The United Nations — unanimously, with support from China — recently adopted new sanctions against North Korea.

“The region and world need and expect China to do more,” the op-ed said, which calls China’s U.N. vote “a step in the right direction.”

North Korea responded to the new U.N. sanctions with increased aggression, escalating last Wednesday to a threat to attack waters near the U.S. territory of Guam.

Last week, Trump issued stern warnings to North Korea, saying the United States will respond with “fire, fury and, frankly, power” to such threats.

Trump tweeted Friday that the military is “locked and loaded” and that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, would “truly regret it” if he attacks the U.S. territory of Guam.

“Hopefully it will all work out,” he said later in the day. “Nobody loves a peaceful solution more than President Trump, that I can tell you. … But we will see what happens. We think that lots of good things could happen, and we could also have a bad solution.”

The op-ed emphasizes that “any attack will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons will be met with an effective and overwhelming response” to North Korea.