Yun Byung-se

The United States signaled a tougher strategy toward North Korea on Friday that leaves open the possibility of pre-emptive military action and rejects talks with the communist nation until it gives up its weapons of mass destruction.

US military action against North Korea is an "option on the table," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has stated, adding that Washington's "strategic patience" with the isolated country has ended.

South Korea and Japan reached a landmark agreement on Dec. 28 on the thorny issue of wartime sex slaves that has long soured relations, with Tokyo offering survivors a one-billion yen payment.

The fledgling group of MIKTA, which includes Mexico, Indonesia, Republic of Korea (ROK), Turkey and Australia, nations broke new ground July 1, with the first meeting of their parliamentary leaders in the South Korean capital.

Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey and Australia formed the MIKTA association in 2013.

The United Nations on June 22 opened a new office in Seoul to monitor North Korea's human rights record, after accusing the isolated regime of abuses "without parallel in the contemporary world" in a report published last year.

Washington is seeking more information on reports that militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) used chlorine gas against Iraqi police officers last month, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Oct. 24.

The top U.S. diplomat told reporters he could not confirm the reports, but said the United States took all such "allegations very seriously."