Spicer: China could be doing a lot more to stop North Korea

Speaking on Radio 4 on Monday, Bill Richardson said: "China is moving in the direction of pressuring North Korea a lot more than it has in the past and it may make a small difference".

After 25 years of trying to deal patiently with North Korea over its nuclear program, Pence said, "all options are on the table" to deal with threat. But some South Koreans worry about the Trump administration's seeming impulsiveness. -South Korean military exercises being staged now are the largest-ever "aggressive war drill".

North Korea attempted another missile launch - the eighth since Trump took office - Sunday.

In an interview Sunday on ABC's "This Week", McMaster said Trump had directed the National Security Council to collaborate with the Defense and State Departments, and intelligence agencies to "provide options and have them ready for him if this pattern of destabilizing behavior continues".

For this reason, she doesn't worry much about what Kim Jong Un might do.

Without going into specifics to avoid telegraphing American plans, McMaster said that the administration will do what is necessary to prevent North Korea from putting American lives in danger.

I hope not, anyway.

Trump announced the strike in Syria while hosting a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and the strike achieved little lasting impact- in fact, the Shayrat airbase was up and running the next day.

Vice President Mike Pence spoke to US and South Korean troops today and answered their questions at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, where he reaffirmed the USA commitment to its long-standing alliance with South Korea. China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to faxed questions.

"So the situation has become more serious under Trump".

The U.S. Supreme Court sidesteps a turbulent debate over illegal immigration, turning away an appeal by a group of asylum-seeking Central American women and their children who aimed to clarify the constitutional rights of people who the government has prioritized for deportation.

The Internet has delighted in comparing Kim and Trump, as off-base as that might be.

For the vice president, this first trip to the Korean Peninsula is an emotional one. "He talked loudly during the campaign about prosecuting Hillary [Clinton] but he chose not to press charges against her".

"This exercise will rigorously test our aerial combat capability and highlights the ironclad commitment between the USA and (South Korea), and the multifaceted capabilities we possess in this theatre". "If they are unable to do so, the USA, with its allies, will!"

But for every South Korean who's anxious about the uncertainty that Trump injects into this equation, there's another who knows the American president is surrounded by generals to whom he actually listens.

Speaking in Seoul, capital of South Korea, Pence linked recent USA military strikes in Syria and Afghanistan with the situation in Korea, saying they showed the "strength and resolve of our new president".

Kim In Ryong told a news conference that "if the US dares opt for a military action", North Korea "is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S".

And what about Kim, who has shown himself to be both hotheaded and ruthless?

"The recent assassination of Kim Jong Nam shows what Kim Jong Un is capable of", Lee said. "I really have no comment".

"You don't want there to be death and destruction and turmoil around the world, but again, you have to have massive backbone when it comes to dealing with terrible, very bad dictators who don't like us, don't like our way of life, don't like us as a civilization".

Trump took to Twitter to defend what critics see as a softening of his attitude to Beijing. In an editorial in the semi-official Global Times on April 12, Pyongyang was put on notice that it must rein in its nuclear ambitions, or else China's oil shipments to North Korea could be "severely limited".