Trump: ‘Patience is over’ with North Korea

by Jordan Fabian - 06/30/17 12:30 PM ET

President Trump on Friday said the United States’ “patience is over” with North Korea, calling for an aggressive international effort to curb the rogue state’s nuclear program.

“Together, we are facing the threat of the reckless and brutal regime in North Korea,” Trump said at the White House alongside South Korean President Moon Jae-in. “The nuclear and ballistic missile programs of that regime require a determined response.”

The president didn’t say what specific actions that would include. He did not take questions after speaking with Moon in the Rose Garden following an hourlong meeting.

{mosads}But Trump stressed that he would take a more aggressive approach than former President Obama, who favored a policy of “strategic patience” to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions.

“The era of strategic patience with the North Korean regime has failed — many years it has failed — and, frankly, that patience is over,” he said.

The president called on major powers in the Asia-Pacific region, a group that includes China, to slap sanctions on the government of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and “demand that the North Korean regime choose a better path, and do it quickly, and a different future for its long-suffering people.”

The comments come amid an effort by the Trump administration to ramp up pressure on Beijing to do more to confront North Korea over its nuclear program, which it views as one of the top security threats to the U.S.

They’re an indication Trump could take a tougher tone during his meeting next week with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. During their first meeting in Apri at the president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trump spoke glowingly of Xi and his influence over Pyongyang.

But last week, Trump appeared to vent his frustration at China’s efforts with North Korea.

“While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!” he tweeted.

On Thursday, the Treasury Department sanctioned a Chinese bank and a handful of Chinese citizens accused of helping North Korea access international financial systems to help fund their nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

“We are in no way targeting China with these actions,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters. “This is about North Korea and how serious we are taking this.”

In a speech this week laying out the administration’s North Korea policy, national security adviser H.R. McMaster warned that the U.S. is preparing military options.

“The president asked us to prepare a range of options, including a military option that no one wants to take,” McMaster said at a conference in Washington.

Tags Barack Obama