The United States will soon roll out its “toughest and most aggressive” round of economic sanctions to ensure the denuclearization against North Korea, US Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday.
“We will continue to intensify our maximum pressure campaign until North Korea takes concrete steps for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization. To that end, I am announcing today that the United States of America will soon unveil the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever,” Pence told at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The top US official has slammed Pyongyang as the “most tyrannical and oppressive regime on the planet.”
The US vice president has further stated that Washington would not let North Korea “hijack” this month’s Winter Olympics with “propaganda.”
“We will not allow North Korea to hide behind the Olympic banner the reality that they enslave their people and threaten the wider region,” Pence said.
Pence’s visit to Japan is part of his Asia trip ahead of the upcoming Pyeongchang Games that will feature North Korean and South Korean athletes, participating under a joint flag, an unprecedented move, which has been a result of breakthrough talks initiated following Kim Jong-un’s New Year address.
In the wake of the thaw with Pyongyang, the joint US-South Korean war games have been suspended at the request of Seoul, however, the Pentagon has continued boosting forces in the region.