Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry on Thursday said that the Obama administration has to consider possible military action against Pyongyang if other coercive measures couldn't frustrate its nuclear ambition.

"I'm not recommending military action. But somewhere along in this series of coercive actions, one can imagine an escalation, and if the ones that are less do not succeed, we have to be willing to consider the other ones," Perry told a forum of the Council on Foreign Relations.

According to Perry, who had faced a similar confrontation with Pyongyang when he was Bill Clinton's defense secretary from 1994 to 1996, the Obama administration should also consider preemptive strikes to stop the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to conduct a test of a missile loaded with nuclear weapon.

"I do believe that diplomacy still has a chance of success, but only if it is robust and only if its robustness includes some meaningful coercion on opponents," he said, adding that the administrations' approach policy toward Pyongyang in the framework of the six-party talks had failed.

The diplomacy has "a much steeper hill to climb now than it did in 2003 because they now have a bomb," said Perry, adding "that option has now disappeared."

Perry's comment on the DPRK nuclear crisis echoed a previous claim made by Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who hints the U.S. military has determination and capacity to deal with any threat by the DPRK.

"The issue of a third war would be a huge challenge. We have got reserve capacity in our military, a very strong Navy, a very strong Air Force. So I would not want anybody to think that we don 't have the capacity to respond," said Mullen, responding to the DPRK's announcement of nuclear test on Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2009)