SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – U.S. Vice President Mike Pence arrived in South Korea on Sunday to begin a 10-day trip to Asia that comes amid turmoil on the Korean Peninsula over North Korea’s threats to advance its nuclear and defense capabilities, and just after a failed missile launch by the North.
President Donald Trump’s vice president arrived in the region a day after North Korea celebrated the birth anniversary of the country’s late founder with a military parade showing off missiles and military hardware.
A North Korean missile exploded during launch Sunday, U.S. and South Korean officials said, a high-profile failure that comes as a powerful U.S. aircraft supercarrier approaches the Korean Peninsula in a show of force.
The vice president was joined by his wife and two adult daughters and was laying a wreath at the Seoul National Cemetery at the start of his trip. He was expected to join U.S. and South Korean troops for Easter Sunday church services and a dinner later in the day.
Trump has suggested the U.S. will take a tougher stance against North Korea, telling reporters last week: “North Korea is a problem. The problem will be taken care of.” He has repeatedly said if China, North Korea’s dominant trading partner, is unwilling to do more to pressure the North, the U.S. might take the matter into its own hands.