U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Sunday "North Korea will be destroyed" if the U.S. is forced to defend itself against the belligerent country.
CNN host Dana Bash asked Haley on "State Of The Union" if President Donald Trump's "fire and fury" remarks last month against dictator Kim Jong Un was an empty threat.
Haley said the threats were not empty and if the diplomatic process with North Korea doesn't work she "would be perfectly happy to send this over to [Defense] Secretary Mattis" since he has "plenty of military options."
"It was not an empty threat. What we were doing is being responsible. Where North Korea is being irresponsible and reckless, we were being responsible by trying to use every diplomatic possibility that we could possibly do. We've pretty much exhausted all the things that we could do at the security council at this point," Haley said.
Bash followed up the original question by asking if Trump's "fire and fury" remark meant a military option.
"By saying General Mattis will take care of it, you're are talking about the Pentagon and you're talking about a military option. Is that what 'fire and fury' meant?" Bash asked.
Haley answered firmly saying if the United States has to defend itself "North Korea will be destroyed."
"You have to ask the president what fire and fury meant. But I think we all know that basically if North Korea keeps on with this reckless behavior, if the United States has to defend itself or defend its allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed," Haley said. "We all know that, and none of us want that."
"None of us want war, but we also have to look at the fact that you're are dealing with someone who is being reckless and irresponsible and is continuing to give threats not only to the United States but to all of their allies, so something is going to have to be done," she added.