- From two continents, top Trump administration officials warned Tuesday that North Korea's latest failed missile launch was a reckless act of provocation and assured allies in Asia that the United States was ready to work to achieve a peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
He said Trump's "strength and resolve" had been evident for the world to see in recent weeks, citing the cruise missile strike on a Syrian regime airbase and the dropping of a Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb on an ISIS location in Afghanistan.
"North Korea is the most unsafe and urgent threat to the peace and security" of the region, Pence told USA and Japanese Navy personnel as he visited the USS Ronald Regan at a USA naval base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo.
Pence - speaking to sailors and Marines gathered Wednesday on the USS Ronald Reagan at Yokosuka naval base - repeated the Trump administration's line that all options to end North Korea's nuclear program were on the table.
The vice president will also participate in a listening session, followed by remarks to the USA and Japanese business community.
"The only thing we need to hear from North Korea is that they are ending and ultimately dismantling their nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles program", Pence said.
While the Trump administration talks tough on North Korea, viewers were alarmed when Trump didn't appear to even know who the leader of North Korea was during a "Fox & Friends" interview on Tuesday.
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In the following months, Japanese bureaucrats from several ministries, including foreign affairs, finance and infrastructure, tried to persuade their USA counterparts to focus on trade and investment rules that would eventually cover the entire Asian region. The US said there are 16 countries causing the deficit, including China, Canada, Japan, Ireland, Italy, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Thailand.
The U.S. has already sent the U.S.S. Carl Vinson to the peninsula, and reportedly plans to send the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan and U.S.S. Nimitz to the Sea of Japan in April.
He also alluded to tensions in the South China Sea, where China is embroiled in territorial rows with several South-east Asian countries, saying the United States will stoutly defend the freedom of navigation through the waterway.
While Trump has complained about Japan being a currency manipulator, boosting ties with Japan are crucial to bringing more manufacturing jobs back to the US. Security issues, chiefly Washington's tens relations with North Korea, economic issues, and trade imbalances are expected to take center stage.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed this past February to establish the bilateral economic dialogue.
Pence said that the USA is committed to enhance partnership with Indonesia.
"We're already seeing our allies in South Korea and Japan and the wider world standing behind us, but China is taking unprecedented steps to economically isolate North Korea, and given the fact that China represents more than 80 percent of the exports from North Korea this is enormously important", he said.
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