Do not test Trump’s resolve, N Korea told

seoul — US Vice President Mike Pence warned North Korea on Monday not to test Donald Trump’s resolve, declaring that “all options are on the table” in curbing its missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

Defying international pressure, the North Sunday test-fired another missile as fears grow that it may be preparing for its sixth atomic weapons test.

“We hope to achieve this objective (the North’s denuclearisation) through peaceful means but all options are on the table,” Pence told a press conference in the South Korean capital after his trip to the tense border with the North.

Tensions between Pyongyang and Washington have soared in recent weeks, as a series of North Korean missile tests have prompted ever-more bellicose warnings from Trump’s administration.

The new and inexperienced US president has indicated he will not allow North Korea to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear

The era of strategic patience is over. president Trump has made it clear that the patience of the us and our allies in this region has run out and we want to see change. Mike Pence, US vice-president warhead to the western United States.

Pence declared that the era of US “strategic patience” in dealing with the North was over, after more than two decades.

The United States, which stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, would “defeat any attack and we will meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective response”.

Pence’s trip to the Demilitarised Zone between the two Koreas — one of the most heavily fortified fronties on the planet — underscored Washington’s changing policy towards the isolated state. The visit came after a huge military parade on Saturday during which North Korea showcased apparent intercontinental ballistic missiles. and as a US carrier group converges on the Korean peninsula.

It also came the day after North Korea’s latest launch — which failed when the missile blew up seconds after blast-off.

Speaking at the village of Panmunjom inside the DMZ, Pence said America’s relationship with South Korea was “ironclad and immutable”. Pyongyang insists it needs a powerful arsenal — including atomic weapons — to protect itself from what it says is the everpresent threat of United States invasion. —

AFP US Vice-President Mike Pence visits an observation post with his daughters near the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarised Zone on the border between North and South Korea. —