U.S. North Korea policy of 'strategic patience' to change, Seoul lawmaker says

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A bipartisan delegation of South Korean lawmakers visited with U.S. congressmen and President-elect Donald Trump advisers on Tuesday to review possible changes in policy under the new administration.

Chung Dong-young of the minor opposition People's Party and others met with U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.

The two sides discussed a likely shift in U.S. North Korea policy and the strengthening of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, South Korean newspaper Segye Ilbo reported.

Chung said in the course of the meetings the Obama administration's North Korea policy of "strategic patience" was discussed critically.

"U.S. experts said under Trump that policy is to change," Chung told reporters.

In 2015, Gardner had said the current administration's policy was a "strategic failure," and that Pyongyang's threat has "grown exponentially" while Washington's focus has been turned on the Middle East.

The South Korean delegation also met with Edwin J. Feulner, chairman of the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation.

Feulner, a member of the president-elect's transition team, told the delegation that in addition to existing sanctions, the new administration is likely to impose additional embargoes on North Korea, according to the report.

Feulner also said he supports "secondary boycotts" against third-party firms in China and other countries that engage in illicit trade with Pyongyang.

Other aspects of Trump's Asia policy are a "blank slate," Chung said, but it is likely "within one or two days after inauguration the administration could designate China as a currency manipulator and take symbolic measures against steel dumping."

The assessment comes at a time when North Korea has yet to show signs of stepping back from stated positions on nuclear proliferation.

During a conversation with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg on Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in five years North Korea is likely to pose the most serious threat to the United States along with the Islamic State and Iran.

Carter said U.S. troops have been in position in South Korea for decades in order to deter a North Korea attack.