Trump rejects North Korea talks
Key nations split on strategy
• In a flurry of phone calls with world leaders, President Donald Trump took a tough line against negotiating with North Korea as the communist country’s latest nuclear test exposed stark differences among international leaders for containing the threat. Meanwhile, Trump’s military, diplomacy and intelligence chiefs briefed Congress on his strategy Wednesday.
Trump stressed “now is not the time to talk to North Korea,” according to a White House description of his telephone call with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday. He said the U. S. was considering all options to defend itself and allies. The readout was released shortly before Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose support is critical if the U. N. is to tighten sanctions on North Korea, including possibly restricting oil sales.
“We had a very good phone call. It lasted for a long time,” Trump said of his talks with the Chinese leader. “President Xi would like to do something. We’ll see whether or not he can do it. But we will not be putting up with what’s happening in North Korea. I believe that President Xi agrees with me 100 per cent. He doesn’t want to see what’s happening there, either.”
Asked if he was considering military action against North Korea, Trump told reporters: “Certainly that’s not our first choice, but we will see what happens.”
A statement posted on state broadcaster China Central Television’s website described Xi telling Trump that China is committed to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. But Xi stressed the solution must come through dialogue and peaceful means.
Trump also discussed North Korea’s purported hydrogen bomb test with Australian Prime Minister Mal- colm Turnbull.
While Trump consulted his international counterparts, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats were holding closeddoor briefings with House and Senate members on the North Korean threat.
As the Trump administration looked for partners to increase the North’s economic and diplomatic pressure, Russian President Vladimir Putin was pushing in the opposite direction. He warned against cornering Pyongyang. That sentiment is likely shared by Beijing, which fears a North Korean collapse on its border.
The North’s nuclear test “flagrantly violates” international law, Putin said. But he urged talks with North Korea, saying sanctions aren’t a solution.
South Korean President Moon Jae- in urged Russia to back stronger sanctions on the North, including an oil cutoff, but Putin worried that such moves would hurt North Korea’s people, said Yoon Young- chan, Moon’s chief press secretary. Moon also called for a ban on overseas North Korean workers — many of them in China and Russia — who provide f oreign c urrency to t he North.
WE WILL NOT BE PUTTING UP WITH WHAT’S HAPPENING IN NORTH KOREA.