Pence in South Korea: ‘All options are on the table’ for North Korea

US Vice President Mike Pence is in South Korea where he has repeated the same bellicose rhetoric of National Security Adviser General H.R. McMaster, saying that ‘all options are on the table’ in respect of military action against North Korea.

Pence visited the Demilitarised Zone which divides the two Korean states. He told South Koreans and American troops,

“President Trump has made it clear that the patience of the United States and our allies in this region has run out and we want to see change.

We want to see North Korea abandon its reckless path of the development of nuclear weapons, and also its continual use and testing of ballistic missiles is unacceptable”.

After calling the US alliance with South Korean, ‘iron clad’ he went on to say,

“All options are on the table to achieve the objectives and ensure the stability of the people of this country”.

This combined with Donald Trump’s tweet that military expansionism is necessary, does not bode well for the deescalation in the Korean peninsula that China has advocated for.