US’ strategic patience with North Korean regime is over, says Donald Trump

Donald Trump on Friday said that the United States had run out of patience with North Korean regime and its nuclear missile programmes. The United States president met South Korea’s new leader Moon Jae-in on Friday at the White House and called for a "determined response” to the North.

"The era of strategic patience with the North Korean regime has failed,” Trump said in a statement, according to CNN. "And, frankly, that patience is over.” He also warned the North to choose a better path "quickly”.

Trump said Washington was working closely with South Korea and Japan on the matters of security and economic measures to protect America’s allies "from this menace known as North Korea”, BBC reported. Trump also stressed that it was open to a dialogue with North Korea only if Pyongyang was ready to give up its weapons programs.

President Moon, however, asserted that it was important to engage in dialogue with North Korea. He said the Kim Jong Un administration will have to face "stern response” to any sort of provocation, Reuters reported. "Our two leaders [of US and South Korea] will employ both sanctions and dialogue in a phased and comprehensive approach,” Moon, who came to power in May this year, said.

The US president’s statement comes a day after it was reported that Washington had imposed sanctions on Bank of Dangdong accusing it of acting as a "conduit for illicit North Korean financial activity”. Two Chinese individuals and the bank were blacklisted, and US Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin called the bank a "primary money-laundering concern” which helped North Korea finance its missile programmes.