US offers talks with North Korea as Pyongyang brags of nuclear arsenal
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday has offered
to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, backing away
from a key US demand that Pyongyang must first accept that giving up its
nuclear arsenal would be part of any negotiations.
Tillerson's new diplomatic overture comes nearly two weeks
after North Korea said it had successfully tested an advanced intercontinental
ballistic missile that put the entire United States mainland within range of
its nuclear weapons.
"Let's just meet," Tillerson said in a speech to
Washington's Atlantic Council think tank on Tuesday.
The White House later issued an ambiguous statement that
left unclear whether President Donald Trump - who has said Tillerson was
wasting his time pursuing dialogue with North Korea - had given his approval
for the speech.
"The president's views on North Korea have not
changed," the White House said. "North Korea is acting in an unsafe
way ... North Korea's actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good
for North Korea."
TRT World's Joseph Kim and Kevin McAleese report the latest.
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Ahead of Tillerson's speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
vowed to develop more nuclear weapons while personally decorating scientists
and officials who contributed to the development of Pyongyang's most advanced
ICBM, according to North Korean state media on Wednesday.
Kim said on Tuesday the scientists and workers would
continue manufacturing "more latest weapons and equipment" to
"bolster up the nuclear force in quality and quantity", the KCNA news
agency reported.
'Period of quiet'
While reiterating Washington's long-standing position that
it cannot tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea, Tillerson said the United
States was "ready to talk any time they're ready to talk", but there
would first have to be a "period of quiet" without nuclear and
missile tests.
UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman, who visited
Pyongyang last week, said senior North Korean officials did not offer any type
of commitment to talks, but he believes he left "the door ajar".
"Time will tell what was the impact of our discussions,
but I think we have left the door ajar and I fervently hope that the door to a
negotiated solution will now be opened wide," Feltman told reporters after
briefing the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
But not everyone is ready for talks.
Cooperation with US over Pyongyang
Japan has advocated a strategy of pressuring North Korea
through sanctions to give up its nuclear weapons. Tokyo and Washington are in
"100 percent" agreement about that stance, Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday when asked about Tillerson's comments.
A former Japanese diplomat said that, while a diplomatic
solution was the "only acceptable solution", now was not the time for
talks.
"We have to see the effects of sanctions on life in
North said.
"I heard that they are having a serious impact on
everyday life. Let's wait and see. If we were to hint anything for dialogue,
we'd be losing clout," he said.
South Korea continued with its military exercises with the
United States to check military readiness, exercises the North describes as
preparation for war.
The South's army said separately on Wednesday it conducted
a successful air-to-air missile firing drill from Apache helicopters.
US talks to China
Tillerson also disclosed the US had been talking to China
about how to secure North Korea's nuclear weapons in the event of a collapse of
the government in Pyongyang.
He said Beijing had been given assurances that if US forces
had to cross into North Korea they would pull back across the border into the
South.
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However, he made clear that the US wants to resolve the
North Korea standoff through peaceful diplomacy and, in terms far more tempered
than Trump's recent threats against Pyongyang, offered to hold exploratory
talks.
"We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk
about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table," he said.
"Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be
willing to work towards."
Tillerson - whose influence has appeared to wane within the
administration - said Trump "has encouraged our diplomatic efforts".
Trump said on Twitter in October that Tillerson was
"wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man", using
his derisive nickname for Kim.
North Korea, for its part, has made clear that it has little
interest in negotiations with the United States until it has developed the
ability to hit the US mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, something most
experts say it has still not proved.
Tillerson also said the United States was working to tighten
enforcement of international sanctions against North Korea, especially further
measures that China can apply, and that Washington had a full menu of military
options if such a response was needed.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the non-partisan Arms
Control Association, said Tillerson's proposal was overdue but that "in
order to get to such talks going, the US side as well as North Korea must
demonstrate more restraint".
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