Cape Argus

US losing ‘patience’ with North Korea

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SEOUL: Visiting US Vice-President Mike Pence and South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn have agreed to strengthen the alliance between the two countries and take punitive actions against North Korea.

Pence and Hwang, serving as acting South Korean president, held talks in Seoul before a joint press conference yesterday.

The US vice-president arrived in South Korea on Sunday as part of a 10-day trip to Asia. Earlier, Pence visited a US base near the Demilitari­sed Zone dividing the two Koreas. He will leave for Japan today.

Pence said the US and South Korea had, since 1992, made joint efforts to achieve a denucleari­sed Korean Peninsula through peaceful means.

“All options are on the table,” he said, although the US wants peaceful means for the denucleari­sation of the peninsula.

Citing two nuclear tests and multiple ballistic- missile test-launches conducted by North Korea in the past 18 months, Pence said the “era of strategic patience is over” on Pyongyang.

“Strategic patience” refers to a US policy on North Korea advocated by the previous administra­tion of former US president Barack Obama.

Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear detonation in September 2016 and a fifth in January. After the January atomic bomb test, the country launched a long-range rocket that put a satellite into orbit. The rocket launch is seen by South Korea and the US as a disguised test of banned ballistic missile technology.

The North is banned from testing the technology under UN Security Council resolution­s.

Shortly before Pence’s arrival in South Korea, Pyongyang testlaunch­ed an unidentifi­ed missile from its east coast. It exploded seconds after the launch, and was adjudged a failed test by Seoul.

Hwang said Pence’s visit was timely amid mounting tensions which stemmed from North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. – Xinhua

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