Vice President Mike Pence said Monday that North Korea should “make no mistake” that the U.S. and its allies will work to remove all nuclear threats from the Korean peninsula.
“Our hope, and frankly our prayer, is that by marshaling the resources of nations across the Asia-Pacific — not just South Korea and Japan, other allies and China — to bring renewed pressure to bear will achieve our goal of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula,” Pence told CNN.
“But the people in North Korean should make no mistake that the United States of American and our allies will see to the security of this region, and see to the security of the people of our country,” he added, just two days after a failed missile launch in North Korea.
Earlier on his trip, Pence repeated his warning that the policy of “strategic patience” with North Korea was over.
“There was an agreed framework,” he said in a question and answer session. “There was a period of strategic patience. But the era of strategic patience is over.”
Pence: N Korea "should make no mistake that the United States of America… will see to the security of this region" https://t.co/Sx9nubqIEh— New Day (@NewDay) April 17, 2017
Pence has stressed throughout his visit to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea that he was pushing for more cooperation from China to rein in the North.
“I know the president is hopeful that China will use its influence here on the Korean Peninsula with North Korea to achieve that objective,” he said. “And we are heartened by some initial steps that China has taken in this regard, but we look for them to do more.”
“We’re hopeful that they’ll use the extraordinary levers that they have and relationship they have with North Korea to achieve that objective,” he added.
