U.S. probing to see if North Korea interested in dialogue: Tillerson
BEIJING: The United States is probing North Korea to see whether it is interested in dialogue and has multiple direct channels of communication with Pyongyang, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Saturday.
The disclosure came as Tillerson expressed hope for reducing tensions with North Korea, which is fast advancing toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will never allow that to happen.
“We are probing, so stay tuned,” Tillerson told a small group of reporters during a trip to China. “We ask: ‘Would you like to talk?’” He then said the United States had “a couple of, three channels open to Pyongyang.”
“We can talk to them. We do talk to them,” he said, without elaborating. Tillerson’s remarks followed a day of meetings in Beijing, which has been alarmed by recent exchanges of war-like threats and personal insults between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Trump.
“I think the whole situation’s a bit overheated right now,” Tillerson said.
“I think everyone would like for it to calm down.
“Obviously it would help if North Korea would stop firing off missiles. That’d calm things down a lot.”
South Korean officials have voiced concerns that North Korea could conduct more provocative acts near the anniversary of the founding of its communist party on October 10, or possibly when China holds its Communist Party Congress on October 18.
U.S. officials including Tillerson say Beijing, after long accounting for some 90 per cent of North Korea’s foreign trade, appears increasingly willing to cut ties to its neighbour’s economy by adopting United Nations sanctions. But to reach any diplomatic solution, Tillerson would still need to overcome some basic U.S. assumptions about North Korea and China. Full story @ timesofoman.com/world