WASHINGTON -- A large majority of Americans believe their president is willing to use military force against North Korea to counter its nuclear and missile threats, according to a recent survey.

The poll, conducted Oct. 25-30 by Pew Research Center, found that 84 percent of Americans thought President Donald Trump is "really willing to use military force against North Korea." It was published Friday as Trump embarked on his first trip to Asia, including South Korea, Japan and China.

Trump has threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea if it continues to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the American mainland.

Sixty-four percent of those surveyed said they believe the communist regime is capable of striking the US with a nuclear weapon, up from 47 percent in 2013. A similar number, 65 percent, said the North Korean leadership appears "really willing" to use that capability against the US

The US should take North Korea's nuclear threats "very seriously," according to 71 percent of Americans, up from 56 percent in 2013.

There was a sharp partisan divide in confidence in Trump's ability to handle the North Korean threat.

While 80 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning people said they are at least somewhat confident in the president's ability, only 9 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning people expressed the same view.

Overall, 39 percent expressed some or strong confidence, while 59 percent expressed little or no confidence.

The survey was conducted on 1,504 adults and had an overall margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. (Yonhap)