President Donald Trump said Thursday he would prefer to address the ongoing crisis with North Korea without military force, saying a confrontation on the peninsula is not 'inevitable'.
Trump warned, however, that should the U.S. pursue a military recourse it would "be a very sad day for North Korea.
"Hopefully we’re not going to have to use it on North Korea," he said during a joint press conference at the White House with Kuwaiti Emir Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
The comments come on the second consecutive day in which the American president has struck a decidedly more measured tone after warning early last month that the North faced unprecedented "fire and fury" if it continued to threaten Washington.
Ever resistant to external pressure, Pyongyang has since carried out its largest ever nuclear test, which it claimed to be that of a hydrogen bomb capable of being placed on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Experts have warned that prior ICBM tests indicate that the North is capable of striking deep into the U.S. mainland.
Following Sunday's nuclear test, South Korea installed the last four of six American Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile launchers on Thursday in Seongju County around 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of Seoul -- more than a year after the deployment was agreed between ex-President Park Geun-hye and the United States.
South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon has admitted the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system was "difficult yet inevitable" in light of North Korea's nuclear provocations.
The system has come in for heavy criticism from residents concerned the Seongju area could be targeted by Pyongyang, while also raising suspicions about the possible health and environmental effects of the system's powerful radar, which arrived in April.
Seoul had downplayed the need to rush the deployment when current President Moon Jae-in took office in May, at a time when he was appealing to North Korea with unsuccessful offers of dialogue and cooperation. The Moon administration's attitude towards THAAD became more positive after two North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July.
China and Russia have both expressed security concerns over the controversial missile defense system.