North Korea presents embattled Trump White House with high-stakes test

President Trump confronted the greatest national security challenge of his young presidency on Tuesday when he threatened to meet the news that North Korea has developed a miniaturized nuclear weapon capable of fitting on a missile with "fire and fury like the world has never seen."

The development capped off months of speculation that North Korea had inched closer to producing nuclear weapons capable of hitting the United States, an advancement that would dramatically change the world's approach to dealing with Pyongyang. It also comes as Trump has faced legislative stalemates, staffing shake-ups, dwindling approval ratings and a general sense of crisis even as the nation was experiencing relative peace and prosperity.

Many experts believed North Korea was months from hitting the milestone revealed by the Washington Post on Tuesday, and the news could thrust Trump's embattled team into a major conflict for which there is no easy solution.

Although the White House had previously signaled that the American "era of strategic patience" with North Korea had ended, Trump's strategy for dealing with the belligerent regime had focused heavily on persuading China to leverage its influence with Pyongyang in order to move toward denuclearization.

Adm. James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in Europe, said relying on China and U.S. allies is key to addressing the North Korean threat.