MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the CNN broadcaster, Pence said on the second day of his three-day visit to South Korea that the "era of strategic patience is over" during his visit to Camp Bonifas military base, located next to the Demilitarized Zone, separating North and South Korea.

In early April, Trump suggested in an interview to the Financial Times newspaper that Beijing might help influence Pyongyang, but "if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will."

In March, US State Secretary Rex Tillerson said that Washington might consider broader sanctions against North Korea.

Since the beginning of 2016, North Korea has carried out a number of missile launches and nuclear tests, prompting worldwide criticism and high tensions on the Korean peninsula.</s>Viewing his adversaries in the distance, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence traveled to the tense zone dividing North and South Korea and warned Pyongyang that after years of testing the U.S. and South Korea with its nuclear ambitions, "the era of strategic patience is over."

Pence made an unannounced visit to the Demilitarized Zone Monday at the start of his 10-day trip to Asia in a U.S. show of force that allowed the vice president to gaze at North Korean soldiers from afar and stare directly across a border marked by razor wire. As the brown bomber jacket-clad vice president was briefed near the military demarcation line, two North Korean soldiers watched from a short distance away, one taking multiple photographs of the American visitor.

Pence told reporters near the DMZ that President Donald Trump was hopeful China would use its "extraordinary levers" to pressure the North to abandon its weapons program, a day after the North's failed missile test launch. But Pence expressed impatience with the unwillingness of the regime to move toward ridding itself of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

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.

"But the era of strategic patience is over," he declared. "President Trump has made it clear that the patience of the United States and our allies in this region has run out and we want to see change. We want to see North Korea abandon its reckless path of the development of nuclear weapons, and also its continual use and testing of ballistic missiles is unacceptable."

Later Monday, Pence reiterated in a joint statement alongside South Korean Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn that "all options are on the table" to deal with threat and said any use of nuclear weapons by Pyongyang would be met with "an overwhelming and effective response." He said the American commitment to South Korea is "iron-clad and immutable."

Pointing to Trump's recent military actions in Syria and Afghanistan, Pence said, "North Korea would do well not to test his resolve," or the U.S. armed forces in the region.

The vice president earlier visited a military installation near the DMZ, Camp Bonifas, for a briefing with military leaders at the joint U.S.-South Korean installation, which is just outside the 2.5-mile (4.02-kilometer)-wide DMZ. Under rainfall, Pence later stood a few meters from the military demarcation line outside Freedom House, gazing at the North Korean soldiers across the border, and then peered at a deforested stretch of North Korea from a lookout post in the hillside.

Meanwhile, China made a plea for a return to negotiations. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Monday that tensions need to be eased on the Korean Peninsula to bring the escalating dispute there to a peaceful resolution. Lu said Beijing wants to resume the multi-party negotiations that ended in stalemate in 2009 and suggested that U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in South Korea were damaging its relations with China.

In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking to a parliamentary session Monday, said: "Needless to say, diplomatic effort is important to maintain peace. But dialogue for the sake of having dialogue is meaningless."

"We need to apply pressure on North Korea so they seriously respond to a dialogue" with the international community, he said, urging China and Russia to play more constructive roles on the issue.

Pence's visit, full of Cold War symbolism, came amid increasing tensions and heated rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula. While the North did not conduct a nuclear test, the specter of a potential test and an escalated U.S. response has trailed Pence as he undertakes his Asian tour.

Trump wrote Sunday on Twitter that China was working with the United States on "the North Korea problem." His national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said the U.S. would rely on its allies as well as Chinese leadership to resolve the issues with North Korea.

McMaster cited Trump's recent decision to order missile strikes in Syria after a chemical attack blamed on the Assad government, as a sign that the president "is clearly comfortable making tough decisions." 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 Trump administration is hoping that China will help rein in North Korea in exchange for other considerations. Last week, Trump said he would not declare China a currency manipulator, pulling back from a campaign promise, as he looked for help from Beijing, which is the North's dominant trade partner.</s>North Korea’s deputy UN ambassador accused the United States on Monday of turning the Korean Peninsula into “the world’s biggest hotspot” and creating “a dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out at any moment.” 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 US” He said the Trump administration’s deployment of the Carl Vinson nuclear carrier task group to waters off the Korean Peninsula again “proves the US reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a serious phase of its scenario.”

Kim stressed that US-South Korean military exercises being staged now are the largest-ever “aggressive war drill” aimed at his country, formally the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “The prevailing grave situation proves once again that the DPRK was entirely just when it increased in every way its military capabilities for self-defense and pre-emptive attack with a nuclear force as a pivot,” he said.

Tensions have escalated over North Korean moves to accelerate its weapons development. The North conducted two nuclear tests and 24 ballistic missile tests last year, defying six Security Council sanctions resolutions banning any testing, and it has launched more missiles this year including a failed attempt this past weekend. The North’s Foreign Ministry said the missile launches are as part of a normal process of building up the country’s defenses and economy. Ministry official Kim Chang Min also said in the interview in Pyongyang that the UN, the Security Council and big countries ignored South Korean missile launches and Japanese surveillance satellites. “This is the limit of double standards,” Kim of the Foreign Ministry said. “How can we have any dialogue to get any result with anyone who has this kind of approach?”

On Monday, US Vice President Mike Pence traveled to the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Koreas and warned Pyongyang that “the era of strategic patience is over.” After 25 years of trying to deal patiently with North Korea’s nuclear and missile ambitions, Pence said, “all options are on the table” to deal with threat. Deputy UN Ambassador Kim said North Korea’s policy is shaped by the Trump administration’s push for “high-intensity sanctions” against the country, deploying tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea and launching military action aimed at “beheading” the North’s leadership headed by Kim Jong Un. He said rolling back the hostile US policy toward the DPRK “is the precondition to solving all the problems in the Korean Peninsula.”

Kim called the news conference to “categorically reject” the US decision to hold an open meeting of the Security Council on April 28 on North Korea’s nuclear program which is scheduled to be chaired by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He called it “another abuse of authority” by the United States, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, and a violation of the DPRK’s sovereignty. Kim ignored questions about the DPRK’s relationship with China and reports that the government didn’t respond to requests from Chinese officials for a meeting. Instead he reiterated two Chinese proposals that the US rejected.

One called for “dual-track” talks on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula _ the top priority of the United States _ and replacing the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War with a formal peace treaty, a key demand of Pyongyang. The other called for a freeze on US-South Korean military exercises and a freeze on DPRK missile and nuclear tests.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App now</s>The era of strategic patience with Pyongyang is over, warns vice-president Pence in Korea

United States Vice President Mike Pence has stared across the demilitarized border between North and South Korea, a day after North Korea's failed missile launch, reiterating that the US era of strategic patience with Pyongyang is over. Pence is on the first stop of a four-nation Asia tour intended to show America's allies, and remind its adversaries, that the Trump administration is not turning its back on the increasingly volatile region.

The demilitarized zone is a heavily mined, four-km-wide strip of land lined with barbed wire running across the Korean peninsula, with soldiers on both sides in a continual eyeball-to-eyeball standoff.

Pence, whose father served in the 1950-53 Korean War, said on Monday the US would stand by its iron-clad alliance with South Korea and was seeking peace through strength.

All options are on the table to achieve the objectives and ensure the stability of the people of this country, he told reporters as tinny propaganda music floated across from the North Korean side.

He said US President Donald Trump has made clear he won't talk about specific military tactics. There was a period of strategic patience but the era of strategic patience is over, Pence said.

The US, its allies and China are working together on a range of responses to North Korea's latest failed ballistic missile test, Trump's national security adviser said on Sunday, citing what he called an international consensus to act.</s>PANMUNJOM, Korea, Republic Of — Viewing his adversaries in the distance, U.S. Mike Pence to the tense zone dividing North and South Korea and warned Pyongyang that after years of testing the U.S. and South Korea with its nuclear ambitions, "the era of strategic patience is over."

Pence made an unannounced visit to the Demilitarized Zone at the start of his 10-day trip to Asia in a U.S. show of force that allowed the to gaze at North Korean soldiers from afar and stare directly across a border marked by razor wire. As the brown bomber jacket-clad was briefed near the military demarcation line, two North Korean soldiers watched from a short distance away, one taking multiple photographs of the American visitor.

Pence told reporters near the DMZ that President Donald Trump was hopeful that China would use its "extraordinary levers" to pressure the North to abandon its weapons program, a day after the North's failed missile launch. But Pence expressed impatience with the unwillingness of the regime to move toward ridding itself of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

"But the era of strategic patience is over," Pence declared. "President Trump has made it clear that the patience of the United States and our allies in this region has run out and we want to see change. We want to see North Korea abandon its reckless path of the development of nuclear weapons, and also its continual use and testing of ballistic missiles is unacceptable."

The visited a military installation near the DMZ, Camp Bonifas, for a briefing with military leaders. He also met with American troops stationed at the joint U.S.-South Korean military camp, which is just outside the 2.5-mile (4. )-wide DMZ. Under rainfall, Pence later stood a few meters from the military demarcation line outside Freedom House, gazing at the North Korean soldiers across the border.

"We need to apply pressure on North Korea so they seriously respond to a dialogue" with the international community, he said, urging China and Russia to play more constructive roles on the issue. deforested stretch of North Korea from a lookout post in the hillside.

Pence's visit, full of Cold War symbolism, came amid increasing tensions and heated rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula. While the North did not conduct a nuclear test, the of a potential test and an escalated U.S. response has trailed Pence as he undertakes his Asian tour.

Trump wrote Sunday on Twitter that China was working with the United States on "the North Korea problem." His national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said the U.S. would rely on its allies as well as Chinese leadership to resolve the issues with North Korea.

McMaster cited Trump's recent decision to order missile strikes in Syria after a chemical attack blamed on the Assad government, as a sign that the president "is clearly comfortable making tough decisions." 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."

Pence told reporters that the North Korean people and military "should not mistake the resolve of the United States of America to stand with our allies," calling the alliance "iron-clad." He said the U.S. and its allies would deal with the situation "through peaceable means or ultimately by whatever means are necessary."

After a two-month policy review, the Trump administration settled on a policy dubbed "maximum pressure and engagement," U.S. officials said Friday. The administration's immediate emphasis, they said, was to be on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of Beijing.

Pence sought to explain the policy in meetings with South Korea Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn and other top officials in Seoul at the start of the trip, which will also include stops in Japan, Indonesia and Australia. He will aim to reassure allies in South Korea and Japan that the U.S. will take appropriate steps to defend them against North Korean aggression.

The concerns were exacerbated after a North Korean missile exploded during launch on Sunday, U.S. and South Korean officials said. 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 U.S. aircraft carrier neared the Korean Peninsula.

The Trump administration is hoping that China will help rein in North Korea in exchange for other considerations. Last week, Trump said he would not declare China a currency manipulator, pulling back from a campaign promise, as he looked for help from Beijing, which is the North's dominant trade partner.

Along with the deployment of the U.S. aircraft carrier and other vessels into waters off the Korean Peninsula, thousands of U.S. and South Korean troops, tanks and other weaponry were deployed last month in their biggest joint military exercises. That led North Korea to issue routine threats of attacks on its rivals if they show signs of aggression.</s>PANMUNJOM, South Korea (AP) — In a trip full of Cold War symbolism, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence traveled to the tense zone dividing North and South Korea and warned Pyongyang that after years of testing the U.S. and South Korea with its nuclear ambitions, “the era of strategic patience is over.”

The unannounced visit Monday at the start of his 10-day trip to Asia was a U.S. show of force that allowed the vice president to gaze at North Korean soldiers from afar and stare directly across a border marked by razor wire. As the brown bomber jacket-clad vice president was briefed near the military demarcation line, two North Korean soldiers watched from a short distance away, one taking multiple photographs of the American visitor.

Pence told reporters near the Demilitarized Zone that President Donald Trump was hopeful China would use its “extraordinary levers” to pressure the North to abandon its weapons program, a day after the North’s failed missile test launch. But Pence expressed impatience with the unwillingness of the regime to move toward ridding itself of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

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.

“But the era of strategic patience is over,” he declared. “President Trump has made it clear that the patience of the United States and our allies in this region has run out and we want to see change. We want to see North Korea abandon its reckless path of the development of nuclear weapons, and also its continual use and testing of ballistic missiles is unacceptable.”

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking to reporters Monday evening, said he hopes “there will be no unilateral actions like those we saw recently in Syria and that the U.S. will follow the line that President Trump repeatedly voiced during the election campaign.”

Meanwhile, China made a plea for a return to negotiations. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said tensions need to be eased on the Korean Peninsula to bring the escalating dispute there to a peaceful resolution. Lu said Beijing wants to resume the multi-party negotiations that ended in stalemate in 2009 and suggested that U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in South Korea were damaging its relations with China.

In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking to a parliamentary session Monday, said: “Needless to say, diplomatic effort is important to maintain peace. But dialogue for the sake of having dialogue is meaningless.”

“We need to apply pressure on North Korea so they seriously respond to a dialogue” with the international community, he said, urging China and Russia to play more constructive roles on the issue.

Later Monday, Pence reiterated in a joint statement alongside South Korean Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn that “all options are on the table” to deal with threat and said any use of nuclear weapons by Pyongyang would be met with “an overwhelming and effective response.” He said the American commitment to South Korea is “iron-clad and immutable.”

Noting Trump’s recent military actions in Syria and Afghanistan, Pence said, “North Korea would do well not to test his resolve,” or the U.S. armed forces in the region.

The vice president earlier visited a military installation near the DMZ, Camp Bonifas, for a briefing with military leaders at the joint U.S.-South Korean installation, which is just outside the 2.5-mile wide (4 kilometers) DMZ. Under rainfall, Pence later stood a few meters from the military demarcation line outside Freedom House, gazing at the North Korean soldiers across the border, and then peered at a deforested stretch of North Korea from a lookout post in the hillside.

In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking to a parliamentary session Monday, said: “Needless to say, diplomatic effort is important to maintain peace. But dialogue for the sake of having dialogue is meaningless.”

“We need to apply pressure on North Korea so they seriously respond to a dialogue” with the international community, he said, urging China and Russia to play more constructive roles on the issue.

Pence’s visit came amid increasing tensions and heated rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula. While the North did not conduct a nuclear test, the specter of a potential test and an escalated U.S. response has trailed Pence as he undertakes his Asian tour.

Trump wrote Sunday on Twitter that China was working with the United States on “the North Korea problem.” His national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said the U.S. would rely on its allies as well as Chinese leadership to resolve the issues with North Korea.

McMaster cited Trump’s recent decision to order missile strikes in Syria after a chemical attack blamed on the Assad government, as a sign that the president “is clearly comfortable making tough decisions.” 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 Trump administration is hoping that China will help rein in North Korea in exchange for other considerations. Last week, Trump said he would not declare China a currency manipulator, pulling back from a campaign promise, as he looked for help from Beijing, which is the North’s dominant trade partner.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's John Sudworth asks North Korea's vice-foreign minister what message he has for Donald Trump.

North Korea will continue to test missiles, a senior official has told the BBC in Pyongyang, despite international condemnation and growing military tensions with the US.

"We'll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis," Vice-Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol told the BBC's John Sudworth.

He said that an "all-out war" would result if the US took military action.

Earlier, US Vice-President Mike Pence warned North Korea not to test the US.

He said his country's "era of strategic patience" with North Korea was over. Mr Pence arrived in Seoul on Sunday hours after Pyongyang carried out a failed missile launch.

On Tuesday, while visiting Tokyo, he called the North Korea regime "the most ominous threat" to the region. He reiterated that while the US and allies would exert economic pressure, "all options are on the table" in dealing with Pyongyang.

Tensions have been escalating on the peninsula, with heated rhetoric from both North Korea and the US.

Image copyright AFP Image caption North Korea held a grand military parade on Saturday

Mr Han told the BBC: "If the US is planning a military attack against us, we will react with a nuclear pre-emptive strike by our own style and method."

How did we get here?

North Korea has accelerated its nuclear and missile tests in recent years, despite international condemnation and UN sanctions.

Its aim is to be able to put a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach targets around the world, including the US.

US President Donald Trump has said that will not happen, and stepped up pressure on the isolated North.

He has sent a navy strike group towards the Korean Peninsula, and the US and South Korea are moving ahead with the early deployment of a controversial missile defence system.

Despite the tension, North Korea may carry out a sixth nuclear test soon, observers say. It test-fired a missile on Sunday that exploded within seconds of launch, following a grand military parade on Saturday.

What has the US told North Korea?

Speaking alongside South Korea's acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn on Monday, Mr Pence said North Korea should not test US President Donald Trump.

"Just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan," Mr Pence said.

"North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region."

He reiterated US support for South Korea, telling his host: "We are with you 100%."

Last month, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that pre-emptive military action was "on the table".

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption US Vice-President Mike Pence: "North Korea would do well not to test [President Trump's] resolve"

But the US is also working with China, North Korea's main ally, to pressure the regime to stop nuclear and missile tests.

Mr Pence told journalists that the White House hoped China would use its "extraordinary levers" to pressure North Korea, the Associated Press reports.

The BBC's Stephen Evans in Seoul says US policy now seems to be to persuade China to contain North Korea while keeping the economic and military pressure on.

What does North Korea say?

Vice-Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol told the BBC that North Korea believed its nuclear weapons "protect" it from the threat of US military action.

"If the US is reckless enough to use military means it would mean from that very day, an all-out war," he said.

The North casts the US as the aggressor.

At a news conference at the UN on Monday, North Korea's permanent representative Ambassador Kim In-ryong, condemned the US missile strikes in Syria, which targeted an air base after a suspected chemical attack by the government.

He said the US was "disturbing global peace and stability and insisting on the gangster-like logic that its invasion of a sovereign state is decisive and just and proportionate and contributes to defending the international order".

How advanced is North Korea's nuclear programme?

And what about other world powers?

China has reiterated its call for North Korea to stop all tests, and has also called for a peaceful solution.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters in Beijing on Monday that the Korean peninsula was "highly sensitive, complicated and high risk" and that all sides should "avoid taking provocative actions that pour oil on the fire".

On Sunday, Lt Gen HR McMaster, the US top security adviser, said his country was working on a "range of options" with China, the first confirmation the two countries were co-operating to find a solution to the North Korean issue.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would not tolerate "missile adventures by Pyongyang" but a unilateral use of power by the US would be "a very risky course".

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday told a parliamentary session that diplomatic efforts were "important to maintain peace", but "dialogue for the sake of having dialogue is meaningless".

He added that Japan needed to apply pressure on Pyongyang to "seriously respond to a dialogue" with the international community.</s>PANMUNJOM, South Korea — With North Korean soldiers standing less than 100 feet behind him at the Korean Demilitarized Zone, Vice President Mike Pence told CNN that Pyongyang should understand that the Trump administration’s approach toward the regime will be different than that of past US presidents.

“We’re going to abandon the failed policy of strategic patience. But we’re going to redouble our efforts to bring diplomatic and economic pressure to bear on North Korea. Our hope is that we can resolve this issue peaceably,” Pence said in an exclusive interview at the DMZ.

To achieve this new strategy, the administration is relying heavily on China, a country President Donald Trump spent his entire campaign railing against, but has since stopped as it became clear North Korea would be a top priority requiring China’s help.

“I know the President was heartened by his discussions with President Xi (Jinping). We’ve seen China begin to take some actions to bring pressure on North Korea but there needs to be more,” Pence said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a daily briefing Monday that the onus was on all parties — including the US and China — to reach a peaceful solution.

“Resolving this issue requires all relevant parties, especially parties that bear major responsibility and play a key role in this issue, to work in the same direction and make a joint effort,” he said.

The North Korean regime began its nuclear program in earnest during the Clinton administration, which tried to prevent its buildup with a diplomatic agreement.

It ultimately failed after Pyongyang violated it by continuing its nuclear buildup. Later, the Bush administration tried global pressure with the so-called “six party talks,” but those failed too, and North Korea launched its first nuclear test in 2006. During the Obama administration, the regime launched four more nuclear tests.

Now, some estimates are that North Korea may have the capability to launch a missile that could hit the continental US by the year 2020.

Asked about that, Pence paused for several seconds before answering.

“I know the President of the United States has no higher priority than the safety and security of the American people. The presence of US forces here in South Korea are a long-standing commitment to the Asia Pacific. And insuring the security of the continental US will be a priority in this administration.

“Look, we want to be clear: our hope and frankly our prayer is that by marshaling the resources of nations across the Asian Pacific — not just South Korea, Japan, other allies — and China bringing renewed pressure to bear,” he said.

The plan was for the vice president to stay inside the glass enclosed Freedom House at the DMZ and not step outside towards the military demarcation line (MDL), where North Korean soldiers are standing.

However, once there, Pence declared he wanted to go outside — and so he did just that. As the vice president stood and looked on, North Korean soldiers quickly came out on their side of MDL and began taking pictures of Pence.

Military officials here told CNN in advance that snapping photos is what North Korea does when seeing VIPs across the way — both to document their presence and intimidate.

Most US dignitaries go even closer to the North Korean side when here — to a set of blue buildings called conference row that spans the MDL and allows them to actually step foot in North Korea. For security reasons, Pence did not.

He did, however, go to Observation Point Ouellette, a lookout post from where not only are the North Korean hills visible, but its propaganda machine can be heard — music and political messages blast there across the DMZ.

For the vice president, this first trip to the Korean Peninsula is an emotional one. His father, 2nd Lt. Edward J. Pence, Jr., US Army, was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in the Korean War.

US military officials prepared a briefing for Pence about the so-called Battle of Pork Chop Hill, where his father earned his medal.

“It’s very meaningful for me and my family to be here. So many years after my father’s service. To be honest with you, my dad didn’t talk about his combat experience much until we were all grown up. It was a lot of tough fighting here,” Pence told CNN.

“I think, in some way, my Dad just might be smiling from heaven to see the sacrifices that he and other American soldiers and South Korean soldiers made here are now passed on to my generation. That’s not changed out our commitment to the secure and prosperity of South Korea.”</s>North Korea’s deputy U.N. ambassador accused the United States on Monday of turning the Korean Peninsula into ”the world’s biggest hotspot” and creating ”a dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out at any moment.” Kim In Ryong told a news conference that ”if the U.S. dares opt for a military action,” North Korea ”is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S.” He said the Trump administration’s deployment of the Carl Vinson nuclear carrier task group to waters off the Korean Peninsula again ”proves the U.S. reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a serious phase of its scenario.”

Kim stressed that U.S.-South Korean military exercises being staged now are the largest-ever ”aggressive war drill” aimed at his country, formally the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. ”The prevailing grave situation proves once again that the DPRK was entirely just when it increased in every way its military capabilities for self-defense and pre-emptive attack with a nuclear force as a pivot,” he said.

Tensions have escalated over North Korean moves to accelerate its weapons development. The North conducted two nuclear tests and 24 ballistic missile tests last year, defying six Security Council sanctions resolutions banning any testing, and it has conducted additional missile tests this year including one this past weekend that failed. Kim spoke on a day that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence traveled to the tense zone dividing North and South Korea and warned Pyongyang that after years of testing the U.S. and South Korea with its nuclear ambitions, ”the era of strategic patience is over.”

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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. And he warned that any use of nuclear weapons by Pyongyang would be met with ”an overwhelming and effective response.”Kim said the Trump administration is ”trumpeting about `peace by strength”’ by deploying ”one strategic striking means after another in South Korea,” citing the Carl Vinson carrier group, nuclear strategic bombers and stealth fighters.

But he said the ”the DPRK remains unfazed.” ”We never beg for peace but we will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms and keep to the road chosen by ourselves,” Kim said. He warned that as long as the United States and its allies ”scheme to bring down the socialist system in the DPRK,” the government will keep increasing ”its military muscle” to protect the country.

Kim said the DPRK’s policy is shaped by the Trump administration’s push for ”high intensity sanctions” against the country, deploying tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea and launching military action aimed at ”beheading” the North’s leadership headed by Kim Jong Un. He said rolling back the hostile U.S. policy toward the DPRK ”is the precondition to solving all the problems in the Korean Peninsula.”

Kim called the press conference to ”categorically reject” the U.S. decision to hold an open meeting of the Security Council on April 28 on North Korea’s nuclear program which is scheduled to be chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He called it ”another abuse of authority” by the United States, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, and a violation of the DPRK’s sovereignty.

Pointing to the recent U.S. airstrike on a Syrian base in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack, Kim said ”the U.S. without any hesitation perpetrates military attacks” and threatens sovereign states. He said the United States insists ”on the gangster-like logic that its invasion of a sovereign state is `decisive, just and proportionate’ and contributes to `defending’ the international order in its bid to apply it to the Korean peninsula as well.”

Kim ignored questions about the DPRK’s relationship with China and reports that the government didn’t respond to requests from Chinese officials for a meeting.Instead he reiterated two Chinese proposals that the U.S. rejected. One called for ”dual-track” talks on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula – the top priority of the United States – and replacing the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War with a formal peace treaty, a key demand of Pyongyang. The other called for a freeze on U.S.-South Korean military exercises and a freeze on DPRK missile and nuclear tests.</s>Vice President Pence on Monday said the “era of strategic patience” is over and warned North Korea not to test the resolve of President Trump and the US military.

“​T​he era of strategic patience is over,” ​Pence said in a speech just steps away from the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea​. “President Trump has made it clear that the patience of the United States and our allies in this region has run out and we want to see change. We want to see North Korea abandon its reckless path of the development of nuclear weapons, and also its continual use and testing of ballistic missiles is unacceptable.”

​The vice president, who is in South Korea for a 10-day tour of Asia, made the comments a day after North Korean President Kim Jong-un’s testing of a non-nuclear ​missile ended up exploding seconds after launch.

The failed launch came on a weekend when the rogue regime paraded an array of military equipment through the streets of Pyongyang in celebration of the 105th anniversary of their founder’s birthday.

“North Korea would do well not to test his resolve – or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region,” Pence said during an appearance with Acting South Korean President Hwang Kyo-ahn. “Just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan.”

Trump has also been in talks with Chinese President Xi Jingping for the country to use its significant influence on North Korea to persuade them to curb their nuclear ambitions. Pence reiterated that message on Monday.

“We also call on other regional powers and the entire international community to join us to confront North Korea and demand that it abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, to turn away from renewed hostility towards its neighbors, and to end the repression of its own people,” he said.

Pence remarked that Trump has “great confidence China will properly deal with North Korea,” but backed up a commitment the president made last week that “if China is unable to deal with North Korea, the United States, and our allies, will.”

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Monday called for an easing of tensions on the peninsula and suggested negotiations continue to bring about a peaceful settlement.
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol threatens to test missiles on a "weekly" basis, as United States Vice President Mike Pence warns the DPRK that the United States' "era of strategic patience" with the country was over.