Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Friday predicted North Korea is more likely to unleash a large-scale cyberattack against the U.S. than take military action.
Kelly, speaking with NBC “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd, said a physical attack from the North Korean military is unlikely despite the country’s warning earlier this week of a “big event” this weekend.
“A kinetic threat against the United States right now I don’t think is likely, but certainly a cyber threat,” Kelly told Todd in a preview clip. “So we would raise various threat levels in the event that something happened and we felt as though that there was a possible threat. You always want to caution on the side of — come down on the side of caution.”
Pentagon officials have mobilized resources to hit back at the dictatorship in the case of a military attack, though they have not disclosed how the U.S. would respond to a cyber attack.
The U.S. said this week that it is well-prepared to respond with military action to any hostile behavior or serious threat from North Korea, including launching missiles at the nation’s nuclear test site, U.S. intelligence officials said according to a report Thursday evening.
The full interview with Kelly will air on Sunday morning.
