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.”
While most of the American public has focused on the threat from the Islamic State and terrorism more broadly over the past several years, North Korea has emerged as potentially the most dangerous flashpoint in the world. Dictator Kim Jong Un announced in January that his regime is in “the final stages” of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile that could deliver a nuclear warhead to the United States.
North Korea has tested weapons and launched missiles repeatedly in the early days of President Trump’s administration, in part as a protest against annual war games conducted by the United States and South Korea. “Now that the U.S. is desperately working to ignite a nuclear war against the DPRK at any cost while staging nuclear war rehearsals at its doorstep, it knows very well about what to do,” a recent North Korean propoganda outlet bulletin said. “It goes without saying that the DPRK is compelled to take the toughest counteraction against the ever-escalating U.S. moves to stifle it.”
Tillerson will also visit U.S. ally South Korea, as well as China, which has a more fraught relationship with the United States. The Chinese are angry that Trump is proceeding with the Obama administration’s plan to deploy a missile defense battery to South Korea, a policy the secretary will have to defend during his visit. He’ll also be looking for China to support additional actions against North Korea. It’s unclear if he’ll propose a military option regarding North Korea, but it seems likely that he’ll demand China crack down on the North Korean economy.
“If China is not going to comply with those UN sanctions, then it’s appropriate for the United States to consider actions to compel them to comply,” Tillerson said during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing.
