The time for “strategic patience” with North Korea is over, US President Donald Trump warned on Monday, after winning Japan’s backing for his policy of considering all options to rein in the rogue state.
Trump described the North’s nuclear programme as “a threat to the civilised world and international peace and stability” on the second day of his Asia tour dominated by the crisis. The president has signalled in the past that Washington could look beyond a diplomatic solution to the North’s nuclear weapons ambitions and consider military intervention.
“The era of strategic patience is over,” he declared alongside his host, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Under former President Barack Obama, the US had ruled out engaging the North until it made a tangible commitment to de- nuclearisation.
Washington hoped sanctions pressure and internal stresses in the isolated country would bring about change but critics said the policy gave Pyongyang room to push ahead with its nuclear ambitions.