The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff closed the Aspen Security Forum Saturday night stressing that the U.S. must work on military options to derail North Korea’s missiles program even though conflict would result in a “horrific” loss of life.

Gen. Joseph Dunford said the military fully supports the economic and diplomatic efforts underway to bring North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the bargaining table. But it’s Dunford’s job to draw up military options as a back-up plan.

“Many people have talked about the military options with words such as unimaginable,” Dunford said while addressing a near-capacity crowd. “I would probably shift that slightly and say it would be horrific and it would be a loss of life unlike any we’ve experienced in our lifetime, and I mean anyone who’s been alive since World War II has never seen a loss of life that could occur if there is a conflict on the Korean peninsula.”

North Korea conducted 16 missile tests last year and held two nuclear weapons tests in 2016, Dunford said. The country is clearly on a path to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile with nuclear capabilities that can reach the United States, he said. Although North Korea is capable of limited missile attacks, which the U.S. military can defend, the concern is North Korea’s growing capacity, Dunford said.

“It is not unimaginable to have military options to respond to North Korea’s nuclear capability,” Dunford said. “What is unimaginable to me is allowing the capability to allow nuclear weapons to land in Denver, Colorado. My job will be to develop military options to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

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