U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that the United States will keep up economic and diplomatic pressure on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to curb its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Pence made the remarks during a visit to an Air Force base at North Dakota, home to both B-52 bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The United States will continue to apply "economic and diplomatic pressure" so as to make the DPRK "abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs," Pence said.
Meanwhile, Pence warned "all options are on the table" and the United States will defend itself "with military power that is effective and overwhelming" when it is forced to do so.
Also on Friday, visiting U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, that his country seeks no war, but the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The comments from the top officials of the Trump administration came days before President Donald Trump's Asia trip which is slated for Nov. 3-14. It will be his first trip to the region since assuming presidency, during which he will visit South Korea.
The DPRK conducted its sixth nuclear test in early September and a series of ballistic missile launches in recent months. In response, the United Nations Security Council adopted a new resolution toughening sanctions on the DPRK over its most powerful nuclear detonation.
