Reuters:
TOKYO (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that Washington would soon announce new, tough sanctions to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs, calling it the planet’s “most tyrannical and oppressive regime”.
Speaking in Tokyo on his way to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, Pence promised the United States and its allies, including Japan, would keep maximum pressure on Pyongyang until it took steps toward “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation”.
“To that end, I‘m announcing today the United States of America will soon unveil the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever. And we will continue to isolate North Korea until it abandons its nuclear and ballistic missile program once and for all,” Pence said after meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Following talks that showcased the U.S.-Japan security alliance, Abe said the two had agreed they could ”never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea.
Pence reiterated Washington’s stance that “all options are on the table” to deal with North Korea…
