Mike Pence, the US vice president, announced that the toughest ever sanctions against North Korea will be unveiled within days as he adopts a hard line stance ahead of the Winter Olympics.
Mr Pence said the Trump administration would soon begin rolling out "the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever".
He added: "We will continue to isolate North Korea until it abandons its nuclear and ballistic missile programs once and for all".
The vice president made the comments in Japan, alongside the country’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, before he heads to Pyeongchang, South Korea, to lead the US delegation at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.
Mr Pence’s three-day visit to Japan came as Washington seeks to bolster ties with its allies in the region and maintain pressure on the regime in Pyongyang.
"All options are on the table and the US has deployed some of our most advanced military assets to Japan and the wider region to protect our homeland and our allies and we will continue to," vowed Mr Pence.
During the opening ceremony, North and South Korean leaders will march together under a united flag and will later be fielding a joint women’s ice hockey team.
But Mr Pence warned that he would not allow North Korea to "hijack" the games with its state propaganda as he urged the international community not to forget its checkered history.
“We will not allow North Korean propaganda to hijack the message and imagery of the Olympic Games,” Mr Pence said.
North Korea war puff
The vice president pointed out that the two nations have marched under the same banner before, only to see “North Korea continue its pursuit of threats and provocation."
He added the US would not allow the country "to hide behind the Olympic banner the reality that they enslave their people and threaten the wider region”.
It came as the communist state on Wednesday announced it was sending the influential sister of Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, to the games.
Kim Yo-jong, believed to be around 30 years old, will be the first member of the ruling Kim family to visit South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Her inclusion in the Olympic delegation has been viewed as an attempt by North Korea to use the Olympics to break out from diplomatic isolation by the international community.
North Korea and the H-Bomb
Tensions remain high between the US and North Korea over Mr Kim’s nuclear missile programme, with many in Washington wary of the state’s motives for participating in the Games.
The rogue state is expected to further strain relations by putting on a military parade today in a show of strength to rival the spectacle of South Korea’s opening ceremony.
Mr Kim is expected to showcase hundreds of missiles as a propaganda tool to stir patriotic pride at home as well as demonstrating the progress of his nuclear weapons program.
At the Games, senior North Korean officials will potentially be rubbing shoulders with Mr Pence and other global leaders – but it is unclear whether they will attempt to hold diplomatic talks during the Olympics.
The US has used the upcoming games to highlight the North’s brutal human rights record, and Mr Pence will be joined by the father of Otto Warmbier – the former North Korean prisoner who died shortly after being released by the state – in an attempt to blunt North Korea’s charm offensive.
But despite his tough rhetoric, Mr Pence has opened the door to talks with the North Korean delegation – which would be the highest-level American contact with the regime in decades.
“With regard to any interaction with the North Korean delegation, I have not requested a meeting, but we’ll see what happens,” Mr Pence said.
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