Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has acknowledged the failure of diplomatic efforts to reverse North Korea’s nuclear weapons program on the first leg of an Asia trip dedicated to developing a new plan for restraining the rogue regime. I think it’s important to recognize that the diplomatic…
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has acknowledged the failure of “diplomatic efforts” to reverse North Korea’s nuclear weapons program on the first leg of an Asia trip dedicated to developing a new plan for restraining the rogue regime.
“I think it’s important to recognize that the diplomatic and other efforts of the past 20 years to bring North Korea to a point of denuclearization have failed,” Tillerson told reporters in Tokyo.
That’s a rare statement to hear from a top diplomat, although it reflects a broad consensus on North Korea’s obstinance regarding the weapons program. Then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper declared the denuclearization project “a lost cause” just last year. But Tillerson didn’t voice such resignation, as he headed into a series of meetings that seem likely to contemplate military action against the regime.
“So we have 20 years of failed approach, and that includes a period in which the United States provided $1.35 billion in assistance to North Korea as an encouragement to take a different pathway,” Tillerson said after a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida. “That encouragement has been met with further development of nuclear capabilities, more missile launches, including those [on] February 11th and March the 5th. In the face of this ever-escalating threat, it is clear that a different approach is required. The purpose of — part of the purpose of my visit to the region is to exchange views on a new approach.
