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Pence Vows to Defend Against N. Korea With Whatever ‘Action Is Necessary'

"We're going to continue to put all the pressure to bear economically and diplomatically, while preserving all of our military options," the vice president said

Vice President Mike Pence vowed that the U.S. is ready to protect itself from North Korean nuclear threats with whatever "action is necessary to defend our homeland."

Speaking with NBC’s Lester Holt on the sidelines of the 23rd Olympic Winter Games in South Korea, Pence made clear that the U.S. was not ruling out military options as tensions continued to roil the Korean Peninsula.

"We're going to continue to put all the pressure to bear economically and diplomatically, while preserving all of our military options to see that that happens,” Pence said in a segment that aired Friday morning on "Today."

“But we're gonna make it crystal clear that our military, the Japanese self-defense forces, our allies here in South Korea, all of our allies across the region, are, are fully prepared to defend our nations and to take what is — action is necessary to defend our homeland,” Pence said.

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