‘Strategic patience’ with North Korea is over. U.S to work on measures against ‘menace’
The era of “strategic patience” with the North Korean government had ended, U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday at a joint appearance with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
Trump said North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs required a “determined response,” and reiterated that an era of “strategic patience” with the North Korean government had ended.
“The era of strategic patience with the North Korean regime has failed. … Frankly, that patience is over,” Trump said while standing alongside Moon in the White House Rose Garden.
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“We’re working closely with South Korea and Japan, as well as partners around the world, on a range of diplomatic, security and economic measures to protect our allies and our own citizens from this menace known as North Korea.”
‘Most urgent’ threat to security
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis recently said that North Korea’s advancing missile and nuclear programs were the “most urgent” threat to national security and that its means to deliver them had increased in speed and scope.
“The regime’s nuclear weapons program is a clear and present danger to all, and the regime’s provocative actions, manifestly illegal under international law, have not abated despite United Nations’ censure and sanctions,” Mattis said in a written statement to the House Armed Services Committee.
“The most urgent and dangerous threat to peace and security is North Korea,” the statement added. “North Korea’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them has increased in pace and scope.”
Earlier this month, the U.N. Security Council expanded targeted sanctions against North Korea after its repeated missile tests, adopting the first such resolution agreed by the United States and China since President Donald Trump took office.
The U.S. focus on North Korea has been sharpened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year and by Pyongyang’s vow to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.
Mattis, speaking before the panel, warned of the potential losses in the case of conflict with North Korea.
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“It would be a war like nothing we have seen since 1953 and we would have to deal with it with whatever level of force was necessary … It would be a very, very serious war,” Mattis said.
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