Trump lands in South Korea to pressure the North

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea (AP) — President Donald Trump arrived in South Korea on Tuesday, beginning a two-day visit centered on pressuring the nation's neighbor to the north to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

Trump has repeatedly struck a hard line against Pyongyang and South Korea will be warily watching him as he is poised to deliver bellicose warnings in the shadow of the North Korea.

The president refused to rule out eventual military action against the north and exhorted dictator Kim Jong Un to stop weapons testing, calling the recent launches of missiles over American allies like Japan "a threat to the civilized world and international peace and stability."

"We will not stand for that," Trump said at a news conference today with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "The era of strategic patience is over. Some people say my rhetoric is very strong but look what has happened with very weak rhetoric in the last 25 years."

As part of his Asia tour, Trump will visit South Korea, where he will forgo the customary trip to the demilitarized zone separating north and south – a pilgrimage made by every U.S. president except one since Ronald Reagan as a demonstration of solidarity with the South. Instead, Trump planned to visit Camp Humphreys, a military base about 40 miles south of Seoul.

U.S. and South Korean officials have said the base visit is meant to underscore the countries' ties and South Korea's commitment to contributing to its own defense. Burden-sharing is a theme Trump has stressed ever since his presidential campaign.

Trump and South Korea's liberal President Moon Jae-in agree on the need to pressure the North with sanctions and other deterrence measures.

But Trump has warned of unleashing "fire and fury," threatened to "totally destroy" the North, if necessary, and repeatedly insisted that all options are on the table. Moon, meanwhile, favors dialogue as the best strategy for defusing the nuclear tension and vehemently opposes a potential military clash that could cause enormous casualties in South Korea.