Beijing Pushes Back On Trump's North Korea Rhetoric

Pence noted that all options in dealing with North Korea are now on the table and will remain on the table.

Pence said on Monday the world had seen Trump's resolve in the past two weeks, with a U.S. missile attack on a Syrian airfield and the dropping of a powerful non-nuclear bomb on Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday, meanwhile, that North Korea's latest failed missile launch was a reckless act of provocation meant to "provoke something", but he also stressed the desire for a political resolution to the crisis.

After meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other leaders, Pence told reporters that President Donald Trump was confident that economic and diplomatic pressure has a chance of compelling North Korea to cooperate.

"We appreciate the challenging time in which the people of Japan live with increasing provocation across the Sea of Japan. We are with you 100%", he said.

Speaking in front of a picture of the North Korean leader and military commanders juxtaposed next to Trump's image, Kiselyov said Kim Jong Un was less scary than the USA president because he was ready for talks, had not attacked other countries, and had not sent a naval armada to the US coast.

In a report by CNN, defense officials revealed that the failed missiles test occurred in Sinpo, a port area in the eastern North Korea.

"Of course I think that any country will feel that political-diplomatic means are of course the first choice", Wang said.

"Any message for North Korea, sir, Kim Jong-Un?"

He said Trump is certain that negotiating trade deals with individual countries was the best way to ensure they yield "win-win" situations for both sides. While the North did not conduct a nuclear test, the specter of a potential test and an escalated USA response has trailed Pence as he undertakes his Asian tour.

He also said North Korea believed its nuclear weapons protect it from the threat of military action by the United States.

USA officials said the Trump administration has settled on a policy dubbed "maximum pressure and engagement" after a two-month policy review.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a fresh appeal for calm.

"It has the greatest obligation and responsibility to bring North Korea back into a realm of at least responsibility in terms of its engagement with its neighbours".

If state TV is a guide, his tough talk on North Korea's nuclear program and decision to dispatch a naval strike force to the region appear to have buried any Russian hopes that he might intervene less in foreign affairs than his predecessors.

But Pence expressed impatience with the unwillingness of the regime to move toward ridding itself of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Yet North Korea has continued to paint the U.S.as the aggressor.

The other called for a freeze on US-South Korean military exercises and a freeze on DPRK missile and nuclear tests.