Later Monday, China announced a full import ban on North Korean mineral resources and seafood would be effective Tuesday, August 15. Dunford's trip has been long scheduled and was not arranged in response to the North Korean nuclear threat. Except US bases in Japan and South Korea, it's the closest US base to North Korea. It remains to be seen whether Trump will pick up where he left off Friday and pile more verbal pressure on North Korea. The drills have long antagonized North Korea, and China has called for joint exercise to be called off as a concession to North Korea to freeze its weapons program.

Source: CNN August 14, 2017 05:48 UTC