Secretary of State
Tillerson asks for help in confronting nuclear threat
Rex Tillerson told the U.N. that failure of the world to curb North Korea would be “catastrophic.” The top U.S. diplomat also called for new sanctions.
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday urged the U.N. Security Council to impose new economic sanctions on North Korea, warning of a “catastrophic” outcome if the world fails to block Pyongyang’s rush to develop a nuclear warhead that it can put atop a long-range missile.
In his debut speech at the United Nations, Tillerson also urged Security Council members to further isolate Kim Jong Un’s government by suspending or downgrading diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, and threatened to slap penalties on third-party countries that don’t comply with existing sanctions.
Hours after Tillerson spoke, North Korea’s military launched a groundbased missile that apparently broke apart and crashed into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, the United States and South Korea said.
A U.S. official said the medium-range ballistic missile broke up a couple minutes after launch. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the missile was fired from around Pukchang, near Pyongyang, the capital.
It’s not known if the launch was meant as a rebuke to the U.S. warning or the latest of at least seven short and mid-range missile tests Pyongyang has conducted this year.
It served to keep nerves on edge in Washington and other capitals over North Korea’s growing nuclear capabilities, a threat the White House considers its most immediate international concern.
“Failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences,” Tillerson told the Security Council. “Additional patience will only mean acceptance of a nuclear North Korea.”
He said the threat of a North Korean nuclear attack on Seoul or Tokyo is real and that it is “likely only a matter of time” before Pyongyang gains the ability to launch a nuclear-armed missile at the U.S. mainland.
Tillerson’s address to foreign ministers from the 14 other nations in the Security Council was part of a White House campaign to ratchet up pressure on Pyongyang before it can conduct its sixth underground nuclear test or test launch its first intercontinental ballistic missile.
He spoke a day after President Donald Trump warned that a “major, major conflict” with North Korea was possible, although he said he was seeking a diplomatic solution.
“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely,” Trump told Reuters in an interview ahead of his 100th day in office Saturday.
The standoff over North Korea’s determined push to expand its nuclear arsenal and to develop more powerful missiles has sparked tensions since the mid-1990s, and diplomatic efforts under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all ultimately failed.
U.S. arms experts think Pyongyang is within several years of building a nuclear warhead small enough and robust enough for a missile to carry it across the Pacific, and then survive re-entry into the atmosphere.
The Pentagon sent an aircraft carrier strike force and a nuclear submarine to northeast Asia in the past week in what U.S. officials described as a show of support for allies South Korea and Japan, as well as a warning to North Korea about going too far.
Most Pentagon planners say Kim’s military, which has thousands of artillery pieces in range of Seoul, South Korea’s capital, could inflict significant damage on the city of 10 million if hostilities broke out.
Korean missiles also can reach Japan.
The White House has sought to persuade China to do more to rein in North Korea, its neighbor and Communist ally, and Trump has repeatedly praised Chinese President Xi Jinping for his cooperation.
But Tillerson found little support at the U.N. from China and Russia when he called for new penalties on entities and individuals who support North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, and for nations to better enforce existing sanctions, said to be among the most stringent ever used.
Tillerson called on nations to sever trade with Pyongyang, to discontinue guest worker programs involving North Koreans, and to ban imports.
Tillerson didn’t rule out future talks, but he said North Korea had to “exhibit a good faith commitment” to abide by U.N. resolutions by abandoning its nuclear program, something Kim’s government has sworn it will not do.
“We will not reward their bad behavior with talks,” he said.