‘We are with you 100 per cent’: US Vice-President Mike Pence reassures Japan over North Korea during visit to Tokyo
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi repeated China’s standard line that the crisis could only be resolved by diplomacy
US Vice-President Mike Pence reassured Japan of American commitment to reining in North Korea’s nuclear and missile ambitions on Tuesday, after warning that US strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed the strength of its resolve.
Pence arrived in Tokyo from South Korea, where he assured leaders of the “iron-clad” alliance with the United States. He also warned the reclusive North, which has conducted a series of missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions, that the “era of strategic patience” was over.
We appreciate the challenging time in which the people of Japan live with increasing provocation
North Korea regularly threatens to destroy Japan, South Korea and the United States and it showed no let-up in its defiance after a failed missile test on Sunday, a day after putting on a huge display of missiles in Pyongyang.
“The era of strategic patience is over and while all options are on the table, President [Donald] Trump is determined to work closely with Japan, with South Korea, with all our allies in the region and with China to achieve a peaceable resolution and the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” Pence said in Tokyo before lunch with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“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 per cent.”
North Korea’s deputy representative to the United Nations, Kim In-ryong, accused the US on Monday of creating “a situation where nuclear war could break out an any time” and said Pyongyang’s next nuclear test would take place “at a time and at a place where our headquarters deems necessary”.