During a visit to South Korea on Friday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared that the U.S. “policy of strategic patience” towards North Korea “has ended”. Tillerson’s announcement comes on the heels of a new round of escalations in the region prompted by new North Korean missile tests, with the U.S. quickly moving to install a new THAAD missile defense system in South Korea despite China’s disapproval.

Efforts by a bipartisan succession of administrations over the past several decades have largely failed to prevent a nuclear North Korea, with the small authoritarian state achieving military capabilities that the U.S. and our allies can no longer afford to ignore.

What exactly this announcement means is anyone’s guess, but it seems to signal the beginning of a new phase in how the international community will deal with North Korea’s aggression from now on. By explicitly stating that military action is “an option” while on a tour of the region, Washington sends a clear signal to Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing, and all other relevant actors that the time to wait and see is now over.

Meanwhile, South Korea continues to recover from an unprecedented political scandal as they prepare for an election in May to replace President Park Geun-hye, who was removed from office last week in a historic decision by a constitutional court.

In the U.S., President Trump recently released a budget proposal that includes a 10% boost in defense spending — the largest increase in military spending since the Reagan Administration.

Additionally, Trump’s chief strategist and National Security Council principal Steve Bannon has previously expressed his belief that the U.S. and China will inevitably go to war over disputed territory in the South China Sea.

Bannon remarked less than a year ago that there was “no doubt” the U.S. and China would fight a war over the islands in the sea, a troubling sentiment in light of heightened tensions in the region today and Tillerson’s announcement that military action is an option against North Korea — a scenario that would be hard to be imagine unfolding without China also being dragged into the conflict.