US Vice President Mike Pence declared the US will apply the “toughest” sanctions ever on North Korea until the rogue state will be completely denuclearised.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington, the US Vice President said Kim Jong-un will no longer be allowed to put forward his propaganda against the “imagery of the Olympic Games”.
He said: “I’m announcing today that the United States of America will soon unveil the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever.
“We will not allow North Korean propaganda to hijack the message and imagery of the Olympic Games.
“We will continue to intensify our maximum pressure campaign until North Korea takes concrete steps toward complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation.”
Kim refused to give up on his nuclear programme despite the tough sanctions imposed by the United Nation on the rogue state in the last few months.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been extremely high after a series of nuclear missile tests from the hermit kingdom which has sparked a war of words between Kim and the US President.
The US Vice President’s announcement came after Taiwan’s Central News Agency revealed that the Chinese military would cross the border into the North in the event of a war.
The news agency also added that China has been armed with the newest surface-to-air missiles against South Korean and US aircraft.
Local South Korean media confirmed the announcement saying: “China is preparing for a potential war on the Korean Peninsula by reinforcing missile defences near the border with North Korea.
“Military units in Yanbian were relocated from Heilongjiang Province, thus adding 300,000 troops along the border.”
US disarmament ambassador Robert Wood also took a swipe at China, North Korea and Russia for pursuing the development of new nuclear capabilities “to threaten other peaceful nations.”
Speaking at the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, he said: “Russia, China and North Korea are growing their stockpiles, increasing the prominence of nuclear weapons in their security strategies, and – in some cases – pursuing the development of new nuclear capabilities to threaten other peaceful nations.”
He then warned Pyongyang “may now be only months away from the capability to strike the US with nuclear-armed ballistic missiles” and that the only way to stop North Korea is to ensure the rogue state’s nuclear programme is “completely, verifiably and irreversibly eliminated”.