North Koreans take part in an event marking the 20th anniversary of the election of former leader Kim Jong Il as general secretary of the Workers' Party, which is the founding and ruling party of North Korea, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

North Koreans take part in an event marking the 20th anniversary of the election of former leader Kim Jong Il as general secretary of the Workers' Party, which is the founding and ruling party of North Korea, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A White House aide says there’s no misunderstanding what President Donald Trump means when he says “only one thing will work” to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

Budget director Mick Mulvaney tells NBC that Trump’s “clearly telegraphing, and this should not be news to anybody,” that “military options are on the table. ... They absolutely are.”

Trump says years of talking to the North and providing aid haven’t worked.

But Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy wants Trump to “stop doing hurtful things to the country’s national security, like telling the North Koreans that there is no diplomatic path for them to give up nuclear weapons.”

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson says “there is no viable military option. It would be horrific.”

The senators were on CNN.