President Moon Jae-in said Mr Trump’s speech to the UN General Assembly yesterday “portrayed a firm and specific stance” on the rogue state – and demonstrated “how seriously” the US viewed the threat posed by the authoritarian regime.
The South Korean leader has previously called for more engagement with North Korea, but has changed his position following its recent series of nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
A statement from the South Korean president’s office said: “We view the speech as portraying a firm and specific stance on the key issues regarding keeping peace and safety that the international community and the United Nations are faced with.
“It clearly showed how seriously the United States government views North Korea’s nuclear programme as the president spent an unusual amount of time discussing the issue.”
In his address to the 193-member UN, President Trump mocked North Korea’s despotic leader Kim Jong-un by calling him “rocket man” – a reference to the secretive state’s missile tests.
He said: “The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.
”Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime.”
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Wednesday that diplomatic talks with North Korea were still ongoing.
But he acknowledged the “sombre reality” that the Pentagon needed to have military options at the ready.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said that United States had plenty of military options on North Korea that did not involve “totally destroying the country”, but added that there could be “steps that lead up to that.”
She said: ”No one wants war, the President doesn’t want war.
“We have tried to do this through dialogue, we have tried to do this through sanctions, we have tried every diplomatic measure that we possibly can.
“We’re not giving up on diplomatic efforts.”
Diplomatic action taken against the North Korean regime so far has included hefty sanctions aimed at disrupting its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
The latest round, which was unanimously imposed by the UN Security Council earlier this month, restricted the north’s oil supplies and cut off its textile exports with neighbour and trading partner China.