North Korea’s Nuclear Tests

In his first Asian trip as Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson told reporters Friday that “the policy of strategic patience” towards North Korea is over.

Tillerson ruled out negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear and long-range missile program, and said military action is “on the table” if those programs continue to progress.

• In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Tillerson “refused to rule out increased weaponization and even nuclearization” of American allies in East Asia. “Nothing has been taken off the table,” he told Fox News.
• The New York Times coverage of the press conference emphasized that Tillerson also rejected a Chinese proposal wherein North Korea would freeze its programs in exchange for the U.S. and South Korea suspending annual join-military exercises in the region; Tillerson said the freeze would enshrine North Korea’s current capabilities, which he said are already too much of a threat.
• The BBC on Friday also looked at his comments in Japan a day earlier, in which he said 20 years of efforts to stop North Korea’s nuclear ambitions had failed. Tillerson will travel to Beijing tomorrow, and the BBC also highlighted his call on China to fully implement previously opposed UN sanctions on North Korea.

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