STRATEGIC PATIENCE EXHAUSTED: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in Seoul this morning, (afternoon Korea time; Seoul is 13 hours ahead of Washington) where he officially declared the Obama administration policy of “strategic patience” in dealing with North Korea a failure, and said the U.S is willing to go to war, if that’s what it takes to end the nuclear threat against the United States. “All options are on the table,” Tillerson said at a press conference with his South Korean counterpart Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se. “Let me be very clear, the policy of strategic patience has ended,” Tillerson said.

“Certainly we do not want for things to get to a military conflict, we’re quite clear on that in our communications, but obviously if North Korea takes actions that threaten the South Korean forces or our own forces, then that would be met with an appropriate response,” Tillerson said. Tillerson also visited the DMZ, the world’s most dangerous border, on the second stop of his Asian tour that will take him to China tomorrow. There, he will press Beijing to do more to use its influence with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to defuse the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.