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'No dictator' should underestimate US resolve: Trump
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US President Donald Trump (R) prepares to addresse US soldiers as his wife Melania looks on upon arriving at US Yokota Air Base in Tokyo on Nov. 5, 2017. Trump touched down in Japan, kicking off the first leg of a high-stakes Asia tour set to be dominated by soaring tensions with nuclear-armed North Korea. (Agence France-Presse/Jim Watson)
P
resident Donald Trump on Sunday warned that "no dictator" should underestimate the United States, in a thinly veiled reference to North Korea, which is likely to dominate his Asian tour.
Speaking to cheering servicemen at Yokota Air Base just west of Tokyo, Trump donned a military jacket offered to him and issued a threat that "no one, no dictator, no regime and no nation should underestimate... American resolve".
"Every once in a while in the past, they underestimated us. It was not pleasant for them, was it?" roared Trump.
"We will never yield, never waver and never falter in defense of our people, our freedom and our great American flag."
Trump's marathon trip comes with the North Korea crisis at fever pitch, with US bombers running sorties over the Korean peninsula and fears mounting of another Pyongyang missile test.
The president's first stops are Japan and South Korea -- frontline US allies in the effort to force Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program, and the two countries with most to fear should a full-scale conflict break out.
Trump touched down under clear blue Tokyo skies and stepped out with his wife Melania in bright sunshine to greet the crowds.
Speaking to reporters on the plane, he announced he would likely be meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin during the tour, as the international community battles for a solution to the North Korean missile crisis.
