The top US general on the Korean Peninsula, Gen. Vincent Brooks, today issued a statement announcing that the United States is totally prepared to start a war against North Korea at any moment, and that it is only “self-restraint” that has kept the US from attacking so far.

Gen. Brooks went on to insist that America’s self-restraint “is a choice,” and that America can change their choice whenever they want to, ending the armistice and restarting the 1950 Korean War. This comes amid President Trump repeatedly talking up military action against North Korea, and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster insisting that all of the options prepared for Trump involve a military component.

Early Tuesday, North Korea successfully tested their first ICBM, a missile which gives them an estimated 4,100 mile range, meaning it could hit Alaska. The US called an emergency UN Security Council meeting, mostly involving threatening “tougher action” and moving against any nation that continues to trade with North Korea, which they are now describing as “an outlawed regime.”

The initial US response to North Korea’s test, however, was to conduct an impromptu series of missile tests of their own, which officials presented as a “show of force” to prove their capability to precisely hit any target in North Korea whenever they feel like it.

While North Korea has promised to keep testing missiles, it is primarily President Trump, who has been talking up the idea of seeing North Korea ‘dealt with” since taking office, and who keeps insisting that diplomacy has failed and his patience is over, who is raising the speculation about an imminent war.

A US attack on North Korea would be potentially devastating for the entire region, sparking an exodus of refugees from the north into China and Russia, and leading to massive North Korea retaliation which could kill millions of people in neighboring South Korea.