Vice President Mike Pence said that the United States' response to any use of weapons by North Korea will be "overwhelming and effective", in a new warning to the reclusive state Wednesday.
Visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday reiterated the commitment to working with Japan and other countries in the region to bring an end to nuclear and missile issues on the Korean Peninsula.
"The United States of America will always seek peace but under President Trump, the shield stands guard and the sword stands ready", Pence told an audience of sailors onboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan at the USA naval base in Yokosuka. In several interviews and speeches this week, Pence has described the Trump administration's North Korea strategy as a clean break from the Obama administration's policy of "strategic patience". "But President Trump and I and our administration believes the most productive pathway forward is dialogue among the family of nations that can isolate and pressure North Korea into abandoning permanently and dismantling its nuclear weapons program and its ballistic missile program".
North Korea, on some level, must know this.
Japan would begin to assume a larger role in defense of the region in coming years, Pence said, and the US would uphold its commitment to protect all Japanese territories, including the Senkaku Islands, territory counter-claimed by China in the East China Sea.
"You can rest assured, the full range of the United States military capabilities is dedicated to the protection of Japan".
Pence is halfway through his four-nation Asia trip, and concerns over North Korea have been dominant.
Indonesia is on Trump's trade hit list of nations that he considers the U.S.is losing out to in trade, and US company Freeport-McMoran Inc., which operates the world's largest copper mine in the Indonesian province of Papua, is in a protracted dispute with the Indonesian government.
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The incident attracted a storm of negative publicity for United, as did their initial handling of it in the immediate aftermath. United has now seemingly admitted that it acted illegally in asking passengers who has already boarded to give up their seats.
"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 further remarked.
The United States had a trade deficit of almost $68.94 billion with Japan in 2016, smaller than the $347.04 billion deficit with China, according to US government data.
"We appreciate the challenging times in which the people of Japan live with increasing provocations from across the Sea of Japan, we are with you 100 percent".
However, the vice president had another important agenda; kicking off the U.S. -Japan Economic Dialogue.
The trip so far has been dominated by USA and allies' concerns about North Korea's nuclear and missile development efforts.
Pence's comments come just days after South Korea and Japan avoided being tagged currency manipulators by the U.S. Treasury. Per Pence's explanation, the new administration wants North Korea to give up its programs in their entirety without direct talks of any kind.
None of the dozen or so North Korea experts contacted by Business Insider said large-scale military action against the regime was credible. 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.
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