AFP :
The United States is ready to talk to North Korea “without preconditions” but remains determined to force it to abandon its nuclear arsenal, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday.
China and Russia responded positively to Tillerson’s remarks, even after the White House appeared to put his proposal in question by saying that US President Donald Trump’s “views on North Korea have not changed.”
While White House press secretary Sarah Sanders did not spell out the president’s views, Trump in the past has chided his secretary of state for “wasting his time” trying to negotiate with Pyongyang.
In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China took note of Tillerson’s remarks and expressed hope that the United States and North Korea take “meaningful steps towards dialogue and contact.”
“We welcome all efforts that are conducive to easing tension and resolving differences through dialogue,” Lu said.
In Moscow, Kremlin spoksman Dmitry Peskov told journalists: “We can state that such constructive statements impress us far more than the confrontational rhetoric that we have heard up to now. Undoubtedly this can be welcomed.” Even as Tillerson stressed the importance of a negotiated end to the standoff, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un vowed to make his nation “the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world.”
Trump has promised that Kim will not be allowed to complete his effort to develop nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching mainland US cities.
To this end, Tillerson has overseen a global diplomatic effort to isolate Pyongyang and stifle its economy through UN sanctions and, ultimately, the threat of US military force. In two public appearances Tuesday, he warned that these efforts would continue until “the first bomb drops” and that Washington “simply cannot accept a nuclear-armed North Korea.”
