"On behalf of the president of the United States, my message to the people of South Korea is this: We are with you 100 percent".
The U.S. will not relent until it achieves its objective of ensuring the Korean Peninsula is free of nuclear weapons, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday while visiting Japan.
Pence on Monday warned North Korea not to test President Donald Trump's resolve, declaring that "all options are on the table" for curbing its missile and nuclear weapons programmes.
During his visit to South Korea, at the outset of his 10-day trip to Asia, Pence's attention mostly was directed at the North Korean situation.
Speaking to a parliamentary session Monday following North Korea's massive military parade and botched missile launch, Mr Abe said: "Needless to say, diplomatic effort is important to maintain peace".
"We appreciate the challenging times in which the people of Japan live with increasing provocations from across the Sea of Japan", he said.
The national security adviser, General H.R. McMaster, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis "are well aware that North Korea is not Syria or Afghanistan, and that a military strike against the North is a risky gambit whose full import is impossible to anticipate", a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst on Korean issues, Sue Mi Terry, told VOA.
"But the United States is troubled by China's economic retaliation against South Korea for taking appropriate steps to defend itself". But at the same time, McMaster said on "This Week" on ABC that "it's time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully". The high-profile failure came as the North tried to showcase its nuclear and missile capabilities around the birth anniversary of the North's late founder and as a USA aircraft carrier neared the Korean Peninsula.
Pyongyang is seeking to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the United States mainland with a nuclear warhead.
The new and inexperienced U.S. president has indicated he will not allow North Korea to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the western United States.
Pence Admits Syria, Afghanistan Props Against North Korea
The Foreign Minister said North Korea could potentially strike Australia if its missile program was allowed to continue. Washington is anxious that North Korea may soon build a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the United States.
Last year, Reuters reported that North Korea was using Sinotruk HOWO trucks to display a new mobile artillery system.
McMaster said various U.S. military and intelligence agencies are working on providing options to "have them ready" for Trump "if this pattern of destabilizing behavior continues". For its part, North Korea has its own names for many of its missiles.
North Korea will continue to test missiles despite global condemnation and increasing military tensions with the United States, a senior official has told the BBC.
"We need to minimize as many unique Korea standards which would make it easier to buy American products made in America", Kim said at the meeting with Pence.
The DMZ is the highly-fortified de facto border between North and South Korea. But the US and its allies have said they are prepared if it doesn't.
Trump campaigned for office on an "America First" platform, saying he would boost United States manufacturing jobs and shrink the country's trade deficit with countries like Japan. They've been suspended since the last round collapsed in 2008 following a failed rocket launch in North Korea.
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. "We will see what happens!"
"At times (he would) argue with envoys to keep them on track, at times cajole them, or warn about the fallout if the talks break down and we walk away empty-handed, leaving the North to continue on". Mr Trump tweeted on Sunday.
Determining what missiles are fired by North Korea after explosive launch failures can be an imprecise science.
"As far as nuclear test is concerned, it was already announced to the public".
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