Tillerson: U.S. open to talks with N. Korea; White House says position hasn’t changed
Remarks reopen chasm with Trump
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are once again at odds over how to deal with nuclear-armed North Korea after Mr. Tillerson declared on Tuesday that the United States was ready to open talks with the North “without precondition.”
The secretary’s comments were remarkably conciliatory for an administration that has repeatedly threatened North Korea with military action if it did not curb its missile and nuclear programs. And the White House waited only a few hours before distancing itself from the remarks.
In an unusual statement released to reporters on Tuesday evening, the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said Mr. Trump’s position on North Korea had not changed — namely, that talks were pointless if the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un, continued to menace his neighbors.
“North Korea is acting in an unsafe way not only toward Japan, China, and South Korea, but the entire world,” she said. “North Korea’s actions are not good for anyone and certainly not goodfor North Korea.”
It was only the latest example of a public rift between the president and his chief diplomat over North Korea.
In October, Mr. Trump tweeted that Mr. Tillerson was “wasting his time” trying to open diplomatic lines to Pyongyang. But this time, the comments follow reports that the White House is laying the groundwork for the secretary’s departure from the State Department and his replacement by Mike Pompeo, the CIA director.
White House officials were alarmed by Mr. Tillerson’s remarks, according to several people, fearing that they would sow confusion among allies after Mr. Trump rallied them behind a policy of “maximum pressure.”
Mr. Tillerson was speaking to the Atlantic Council in what was billed as a wrap-up of foreign-policy challenges in the administration’s first year.
Asked about the prospects for diplomacy with the North, he said, “We’re ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk, and we’re ready to have the first meeting without precondition.
“Let’s just meet and let’s — we can talk about the weather if you want,” he continued. “We can talk about whether it’s going to be a square table or a round table, if that’s what you’re excited about. But can we at least sit down and see each other face to face?”
To some extent, Mr. Tillerson was merely playing the role he has played throughout the administration’s confrontation with North Korea — the diplomat offering a softer line — while Mr. Trump and other White House officials warn about the consequences if North Korea does not back off.