Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s public acknowledgment that the U. S. has direct channels to North Korea has underscored his role as an administration moderate when it comes to reining in the regime over its nuclear weapons.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s public acknowledgment that the U. S. has direct channels to North Korea has underscored his role as an administration moderate when it comes to reining in the regime over its nuclear weapons.
After starting his term with a swing through Asia where he said talks with Pyongyang wouldn’t be productive, Tillerson, on a one-day trip to Beijing, left the door open to negotiations. That’s a stance that runs counter to what others in the U. S. administration — including President Donald Trump — have said.
“The first time I would have the opportunity to sit with the North Koreans it would be to say what do you want to talk about, because we haven’t even got that far yet,” Tillerson told reporters on Saturday in Beijing. The U. S. is in direct communication with the regime, he said, adding, “we can talk to them, we do talk to them.”
“We are probing, so stay tuned,” he said.
The remarks highlight the divergent views within Trump’s administration on how best to get Kim Jong Un to halt his weapons campaign after a series of missile launches and the test of his most powerful nuclear weapon yet. While some have left the door open to military action against the regime, others have warned that could set off a potentially devastating conflict in North Asia. At the same time, increased sanctions and diplomatic pressure have done little to force Kim to alter course.
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Trump tweeted in August that “talking is not the answer,” while United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley has said the time for dialogue is over and she’d “have no problem kicking it to” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Among senior Cabinet officials, Tillerson’s aversion to such language is shared only by Mattis, who said “we’re never out of diplomatic solutions” when he was asked about Trump’s tweet.
Tillerson is a chief architect of the administration’s “peaceful pressure campaign,” an initiative that seeks to use UN Security Council sanctions to try and choke North Korea’s economy while pressing countries to stop accepting North Korean guest workers and close the regime’s diplomatic outposts.
