US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday the escalating threat from North Korea’s nuclear program showed a clear need for a “new approach,” although he stopped short of detailing what steps the Trump administration would pursue.
Tillerson was speaking at a news conference following talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, the start of his first trip to Asia as secretary of state. It was the first time Tillerson, a former oil executive with no prior diplomatic experience, had taken questions from the media since coming into office in early February.
Two decades of diplomatic and other efforts, including aid given to North Korea by the United States, had failed to achieve the goal of denuclearizing Pyongyang, he said.
“So we have 20 years of failed approach,” Tillerson said. “That includes a period where the United States has provided $1.35 billion in assistance to North Korea as an encouragement to take a different pathway.”
“In the face of this ever-escalating threat, it is clear that a different approach is required. Part of the purpose of my visit to the region is to exchange views on a new approach.”
A Japanese foreign ministry official said US officials had discussed potential new approaches regarding North Korea, but he declined to elaborate.
Tillerson visits South Korea and China later in the week. The New York Times reported on Wednesday he will warn Chinese officials that the United States would increase missile defenses in the region, and impose sanctions on Chinese banks if Beijing does not constrain North Korea’s nuclear and missile ambitions.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Wednesday that Tillerson will have “substantive, hard” talks with US partners in Asia on next steps in dealing with North Korea, but his visit was not likely to produce an immediate specific response.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying repeated Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s proposal last week that North Korea should stop its nuclear and missile tests and South Korea and the United States should stop joint military drills and seek talks instead.
“We welcome all parties, including the United States, to come up with their own proposals,” Hua told a daily news briefing. “As long as these proposals are conducive to ameliorating the present tense situation on the Korean peninsula and are beneficial to maintaining regional peace and stability … China will have an open attitude.”
Tillerson made it clear he expected China, North Korea’s sole major ally, to do more.
“We will be having discussions with China as to further actions we believe they might consider taking that would be helpful to bringing North Korea to a different attitude about its future need for nuclear weapons,” he said.
Seeking clues
Tillerson had not previously answered questions from reporters during his six weeks in office, and his comments in Japan were eagerly watched by international observers for indications as to what they meant for the Trump administration’s foreign policy.
Japan is seeking clues to Washington’s policies both on North Korea and China’s increasing military and economic clout while hoping to steer clear of trade rows.
During his stop in Tokyo, Tillerson also held talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and had dinner with Kishida.
US President Donald Trump made it a hallmark of his presidential campaign to call on U.S. allies, including Japan, to pay more for hosting US forces and other elements of American protection.
During the joint news conference with Kishida, Tillerson issued a far gentler version of that message, first underscoring the “long-standing” US-Japanese alliance.
“While the security environment in this region can be challenging, the United States is committed to strengthening our role, and we welcome an increased Japanese commitment to their roles and responsibilities in our alliance,” he said.
Tillerson is the second member of Trump’s cabinet to visit Japan. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis visited last month, and Vice President Mike Pence is due to visit in April, underscoring US concerns surrounding North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs. Abe was the first foreign leader who met Trump after his November election win.
North Korea last week launched four more ballistic missiles and is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States, in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions.
Washington has previously said all options, including military, are on the table in its review of policies toward North Korea and Japanese officials are keen to know more details. In the final months of the Obama administration, US officials warned China it would blacklist Chinese companies and banks that do illicit business with North Korea, if Beijing failed to enforce UN sanctions against Pyongyang.
Tillerson’s trip to Asia also comes as the United States has begun deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in South Korea, a move that China strongly objects to because it sees the system’s radar as a threat to its security.
Pak Myong Ho, a North Korean embassy official speaking in Beijing on Thursday, said the THAAD deployment “will destroy the balance in Northeast Asia and the Pacific region.”
“The radar is not aimed at just us,” Pak said. “It is also aiming for China and Russia.”
China’s assertiveness in the East China Sea, where it has a territorial row with Japan, and the South China Sea, where it has disputes with the Philippines and several other Southeast Asian nations, were also on the agenda during Tillerson’s visit.
Tillerson’s visit to Tokyo came as Abe’s government battles a domestic scandal over a nationalist school. Following weeks of questions in parliament about the affair, support for Abe fell five points to 50%, a weekend poll by the Mainichi newspaper showed, off highs hit after he met Trump in Washington last month.
The only viable approach is direct talks between the US and North Korea. NK fears only what Washington will do and certainly not Beijing. Uncle Sam holds all the cards but expects China to play a hand they don’t hold.
Typical foxy and disgenuous and cowardly Chineese behaviour. It has done neither its share nor is prepared to take up some global responsibilities such as enforcing some sanctions on this rogue state: North Korea. Its whole mindset is pass on the buck to others like US to do the dirty job. It is after its own interest like selling military hardware to rougue states in Africa or Pakistan.Yet it likes to be treated as a formidable globar superpower waiting US to fall down and then crowned!
China be told in no uncertain terms, that it has get off its arse and do its share.
complaints about radar ? you can cook dinner for two with that but you can ruin the whole aftrernoon for milions with nuclear missile -not to mention that as it is now the North Korean people are living in hell already . Home made pickled Kimchi would be preferable solution to all including Kim’s remaining family
It makes me laugh that US Secretary of State Tillerson says a new approach is needed in dealing with the Kim family that rule North Korea. I say the new approach should be the US withdrawing from South Korea and Japan and then there would be a magical new outlook in the region. In fact I think South Korea elite and the Politicians are not so enthused about incorporating a failed,broke, North Korea into the South Korean fold. I think China should take North Korea over when the fall happens and make it into a provience where the North Korean population can chose to stay put,make arrangements to apply for legal status in South Korea, are make arrangements for legal status in China.My last thought on this subject is Japan has to relinquish its hold on the two islands that belong to China. And "YES" the big dog in Pacific Rim Asia is China so no matter what the US does it will only makes things worse for all parties concerned!! Just Sayin!!!
Kevin, Great points! Unfortunately the recent press report about reducing our State Department budget tends to undermine deplomacy. Our increased military budget will just play into Kim Family paranoia while also irratating China.
The “US stay away approach” with Chinese negotiations would be optimal.
Everyone should be afraid of the THAAD missile defense system because it escalates the tension in the Korean Peninsula. There have been three generations of Mr. Kim ruling North Korea, all of them barking and but not bite. Today’s Mr. Kim is different from his father and grandfather. He has nuclear war-heads and rockets to carry the war heads. There is no doubt Mr. Kim Jong-un will use the nukes, if pushed into a corner.
The North Korea situation is getting TOO tense. The US does not seem to stop provoking actions from North Korea. To defuse the situation and get into a dialog the US should terminate its military bases and joint military exercises.
China is the only nation that has ANY influence on North Korea. Decades of sanctions, military exercises and hard talk has not given the intended results, it has made North Korea focus even more on developing a nuclear long range arsenal. A nuclear conflict could lead to the entire Korean peninsula and large part of N E Asia become contaminated with radioactive material. With 38.000 US soldiers in South Korea; the US should be careful.
It seems the US likes wars when the killing-fields are in Europe or Asia. Even the threat of war makes US weapons sell like hot-cakes.
Perry Kamath
You are dreaming. The time is long past when a Western country could order China to do anything. In any event it is the US that is in the region waving it´s dick around. Stop that and things might just improve .
You know what would work? The US could sign the peace treaty with North Korea that the North Koreans have been asking for for the last 50 years and stop hold practice drills for the invasion of North Korea a couple of times a year. That would be a very constructive step.