A reminder: President Trump has previously said he will “solve North Korea” in a Financial Times interview.
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Pence spoke as uncertainty continues to swirl about the USA plan of action regarding North Korea, which conducted yet another failed missile test on Sunday as the country celebrated the birthday of patriarch Kim Il-Sung. “They’ve all been outplayed by this gentleman”.
“I think now China realizes that finally it is in their best interest to put the lid on North Korea, on their military program and those types of things”, said Hoekstra, a senior fellow at the Investigative Project on Terrorism and author of “Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya”.
Kim In Ryong told a news conference that “if the USA dares opt for a military action”, North Korea “is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US”.
The North’s Foreign Ministry said the missile launches were part of a normal process of building up the country’s defences and economy.
Mattis credited China with trying to help get the North Korea situation “under control” with the goal of denuclearizing the peninsula.
That kind of rhetoric has unnerved allies in Japan and South Korea, who would be at the sharp end of any North Korean response.
He signaled he was out of patience with China on North Korea, saying in a Financial Times interview published April 2 that the US could act on its own to resolve the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear program.
Pointing to the quarter-century since the United States first confronted North Korea over its attempts to build nuclear weapons, the vice president said a period of patience had followed.
At that event he said that the Trump administration is actively working with its allies in the region – Japan, South Korea and China – to deploy diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to try to achieve a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.
US President Donald Trump has reportedly been able to convince his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping of the need not to support North Korea because the country is a burden for China.
North Korea will continue to test missiles on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis, Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol said.
Speaking at the event, Abe said that Japan also hopes for peaceful dialogue with Pyongyang, “but at the same time, dialogue for the sake of dialogue is valueless”.
“You read Clinton’s book, and he said ‘Oh, we made such a great peace deal.’ And it was a joke”, Trump said. So far Trump has shown flexibility in considering the broader context of the U.S.
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New footage from North Korea’s birthday celebrations for founding father Kim Il-sung has revealed the extravaganza ended with a bang, showing a mock-up video of missiles striking the United States that drew cheers from the audience and smiles from leader Kim Jong-un. A US Navy carrier headed for the Korean peninsula on Saturday while Kim Jong-un spent the day reviewing the country’s military hardware on parade. “The problem will be taken care of”, President Trump insisted.
