The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
From demilitarised zone, Pence warns North Korea: don’t test Trump’s resolve
Invoking US strikes in Syria, Afghanistan, V-P says era of strategic patience over
US MOVES AHEAD WITH EARLY DEPLOYMENT OF THAAD MISSILE SYSTEM
Usvicepresidentmikepenceput Northkoreaonnoticeonmonday, warning that recent US strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed that the resolve of President Donald Trump should not be tested.
Pence and South Korean acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn, speaking a day after a failed missiletestbythenorthandtwodays after a huge display of missiles in Pyongyang, also said they would strengthen anti-north Korea defences by moving ahead with the early deployment of the THAAD missile-defence system.
Syria’s Ambassador to North Korea Tammam Sulaiman said the US was wrong to send messages with attacks on other countries. North Korea’s deputy UN ambassador accused the US of turningthekoreanpeninsulainto “the world’s biggest hotspot” and creating “a dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out at any moment”.
Pence is on the first stop of a four-nation Asia tour intended to showamerica’sallies,andremind itsadversaries,thatthetrumpadministration was not turning its back on the increasingly volatile region.justinthepasttwoweeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan,” Pence said. “North Koreawoulddowellnottotesthis resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the US in this region,” Pence said.
Theusnavythismonthstruck a Syrian airfield with 59 missiles after a chemical weapons attack. On Thursday, the US military said it had dropped the largest nonnuclear device it has ever unleashed in combat, on a network of caves and tunnels used by ISIS in Afghanistan.
North Korea’s KCNA news agencycarriedaletterfromleader Kim Jong Un to Syrian President Basharal-assadmarkingthe70th anniversary of Syria’s independence, and expressing support to the Syrian government.
At a White House Easter celebration,trumpwasaskedbyareporter if he had a message for Northkoreanleaderkimjongun, and replied: “Gotta behave.”
On a visit to the border betweennorthandsouthkoreaearlier in the day, Pence said, the US would stand by its “iron-clad alliance” with South Korea.
“All options are on the table to achieve the objectives and ensure the stability of the people of this country,”hetoldreportersastinny propaganda music floated across from the North Korean side of the so-called demilitarised zone (DMZ). “There was a period of strategic patience but the era of strategic patience is over.”
But Pence and Hwang said they were troubled by retaliatory economicmovesbychinaagainst thedeploymentinsouthkoreaof a US anti-missile system known astheterminalhighaltitudearea Defense (THAAD).