Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday North Korea’s firing of a ballistic missile is a “provocative act” while denying he and President Trump misread Kim Jong Un when they said he appeared to be bending to diplomatic pressure.
Tillerson said on “Fox News Sunday” Friday’s test of three ballistic missiles by North Korea came days after Trump and Tillerson both acknowledged that North Korea appeared to be backing down from the game of brinksmanship played between Kim and Trump.
Tillerson said the missile test is clearly a belligerent act that violates United Nations resolutions.
“The firing of any ballistic missile is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” he said. “We view it as a provocative act.”
When pressed if he and Trump were wrong about Kim, Tillerson said he didn’t think so.
“I don’t know that we’re wrong … they’re not compared to completely back away from their position,” he said.
Tillerson also touted Trump’s speech on Monday on his Afghanistan strategy, promising to change military tactics to stop the Taliban advance in the war-torn country.
He said the goal is to change strategies in order to force the Taliban to come to the negotiating table to stabilize Afghanistan into the future.
“What needs to happen is the Taliban needs to engage with the Afghan government in a process of reconciliation and govern the country into the future,” he said.
