Pence warns NKorea ‘era of strategic patience is over’

The North, which is intent on developing a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland United States, defied global pressure Sunday with a test that failed immediately after launch.

– Fox & Friends that aired Tuesday morning, Trump, apparently referring to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, discussed how previous presidents (only the Democratic ones) had been hoodwinked. “A number of neighboring and Western countries, fearing that the situation in the region will worsen, could pre-purchase or pre-order Chinese-made goods in large quantities in order to accumulate them”, he said. “That’s just something he believes has not served us well in the past”, Spicer said.

Trump essentially has three choices: a military strike that could ignite a full-blown war; pressure on China to impose tougher sanctions to persuade the North to change course, an approach that failed for his predecessors; or a deal that could require significant concessions, with no guarantee that North Korea would fulfill its promises.

A State Department official said Monday that the United States will continue trying to further isolate North Korea economically, politically and diplomatically.

Japan’s prime minister has called for a peaceful resolution of tensions involving North Korea but also urged pressure on Pyongyang to force it to abandon its military nuclear program.

Susan Thornton, acting US assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and China’s top diplomat, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, agreed in a phone call on Sunday on the need for strict enforcement of United Nations resolutions.

But the vice president expressed impatience with the unwillingness of the North to move toward ridding itself of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

The dialogue was set up by President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the Japanese leader’s visit to the U.S.in February.

In Tokyo, there is still hope that the core of the agreement, thrashed out between the United States and Japan and meant to counterbalance China’s regional economic power, can be salvaged in some form.

Pence reiterated that after years of North Korea testing the USA and its neighbors in East Asia with its nuclear ambitions, the US “era of strategic patience is over”.

North Korea also appeared to reveal two new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) during Saturday’s parade. “We are with you 100 percent”, he said.

Sure, the Trump administration is doing plenty of rhetorical posturing while North Korea is firing off missile tests.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump would not be “drawing red lines in the sand” with North Korea.

North Korea used Chinese-made trucks to display missiles at a massive military parade last week, according to photographs released by state media, underlining the difficulty in enforcing United Nations sanctions against the isolated state.

The official pointed out the recent engagement with the Chinese, and the stronger language calling for more Chinese pressure on North Korea, is the most immediate impact of that review. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that President Trump might not know the name of North Korea’s leader.

Pence arrived in Japan after visiting South Korea and leaves for Indonesia later on Wednesday. GEORGIA CONGRESSIONAL RACE Democrat Jon Ossof leads a field of 18 candidates in Tuesday’s election for the Georgia congressional seat vacated by Trump’s health secretary, and a win by the political novice in a reliably Republican district could spell trouble for the Republican president.

The US vice president is in Japan for talks.

“We would not want to lose the progress that was made in that area”, the official said. “But at every step of the way, North Korea answered our overtures with willful deception, broken promises and nuclear and missile tests”.