A day after Tillerson revealed that the US has direct contact with North Korea a diplomatic channel that wasnt known before he heard from Trump
Big News Network.com Monday 2nd October, 2017
WASHINGTON, U. S. – A day after U. S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson revealed that the U. S. has direct contact with North Korea, a diplomatic channel that hasn’t been known before – he heard from the U. S. President.
During his visit to China, in which Rex Tillerson focussed on dealing with the looming nuclear threat that North Korea poses, he said that the U. S. is in talks with North Korea to see whether it is interested in dialogue.
He pointed out that America currently has multiple direct channels of communication with Pyongyang.
Tillerson 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.”
He added, “We can talk to them, we do talk to them. We are probing, so stay tuned. We ask: Would you like to talk? We have lines of communications to Pyongyang. We’re not in a dark situation.”
Since North Korea and the U. S. have not previously known to have had any direct line of communication, the news was a revelation to international experts, who have been studying the intensifying level of threats and personal insults that the U. S. President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un have exchanged over the last few months.
This was also the first time the Trump administration acknowledged it was in direct communication with Pyongyang.
However, clarifying that he wasn’t a big fan of Tillerson’s method of dealing with the provocative nuclear nation, Trump took to Twitter on Sunday.
Trump, using his sarcastic nickname for Kim Jong Un, said, “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man.”
He went on, “Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!”
Tillerson on the other hand, has expressed hope for reducing tensions with North Korea, which is pacing ahead to fulfill its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U. S. mainland.
Over the last few months and especially during the month of September, when North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb test so far, Trump has vacillated between direct personal attacks on the North Korean leader and a willingness to negotiate.
Last month, after announcing new U. S. sanctions on North Korea, Trump acknowledged diplomacy was still possible, asking, “Why not?”
And Tillerson’s approach to deal with Kim Jong Un and get him to halt his weapons campaign after a series of missile launches and the test of his most powerful nuclear weapon yet – has also revealed the divergent views within Trump’s administration.
While some in higher positions 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.
Meanwhile, increased sanctions and diplomatic pressure has done little to force Kim Jong Un to alter course.
In August, Trump tweeted 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. Mattis meanwhile has said, “We’re never out of diplomatic solutions” when he was asked about Trump’s tweet.
Tillerson’s “peaceful pressure campaign” 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.
Anthony Ruggiero, a senior fellow at the Washington, D. C.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies has said, “Direct talks are good news during this time of increasing rhetoric as the channel could be used to avoid miscalculation. Trump complimented Xi on his efforts to increase pressure on North Korea, and Tillerson’s comments during a trip to China could be a reminder the Trump administration is ready to talk if China increases the pressure.”
Further, Shi Yongming, an associate research fellow at China’s Foreign Ministry-affiliated China Institute of International Studies believes that Tillerson’s remarks about direct channels to Pyongyang were “positive news.”
Yongming has said, “At present it’s an impasse, neither the U. S. nor North Korea dares to initiate a war despite fierce rhetoric. So whoever first offers to talk will have an advantageous position. Not only the moral ground, but also in a better position to guide negotiations. It’s wise for the Americans to openly acknowledge direct talks with the North.”
While the U. S. insists that negotiations must lead to denuclearization, North Korea wants the world to accept it as a nuclear-armed state.
Ruggiero has pointed out, “I don’t see this as an opening at this time. The Trump administration should continue the robust pressure campaign that’s starting to produce results.”
