Rex Tillerson Rejects Talks With North Korea on Nuclear Program -
By DAVID E. SANGERMARCH 17, 2017
Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, in a visit to South Korea, said if North Korea increased "the threat
of their weapons program” to an unacceptable level, the Trump administration would consider action.
SEOUL, South Korea — Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson ruled out on Friday opening any negotiation with North Korea to freeze its nuclear and missile programs and said for the first time
that the Trump administration might be forced to take pre-emptive action “if they elevate the threat of their weapons program” to an unacceptable level.
On Friday afternoon, after visiting the Demilitarized Zone
and peering into North Korean territory in what has become a ritual for American officials making a first visit to the South, Mr. Tillerson explicitly rejected a Chinese proposal to get the North Koreans to freeze their testing in return for the United States and South Korea suspending all annual joint military exercises, which are now underway.
Mr. Tillerson argued that a freeze would essentially enshrine “a comprehensive set of capabilities” North Korea possesses
that already pose too great a threat to the United States and its allies, and he said there would be no negotiation until the North agreed to dismantle its programs.
Instead, Mr. Tillerson referred vaguely to a “number of steps” the United States could take — a phrase
that seemed to embrace much more vigorous enforcement of sanctions, ramping up missile defenses, cutting off North Korea’s oil, intensifying the cyberwar program and striking the North’s known missile sites.
