Tillerson Doesn’t Rule Out Preemptive Strike Against North Korea

In a joint press conference held after the talks, Tillerson told reporters that the situation over the threats from the North has reached a “dangerous level” and that he and Wang renewed their will to persuade the North to choose a new path from its persistent pursuit of nuclear and missile programs.

“I think it’s important to recognise that the diplomatic and other efforts of the past 20 years to bring North Korea to a point of denuclearisation have failed”, he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shake hands before their meeting at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan March 16, 2017.

China, which has taken it upon itself to act as a mediator on the North Korea nuclear issue, proposed that North Korea suspend its nuclear and missile programs while the USA and South Korea suspend joint military exercises.

There is no question that North Korea, which has recently increased both its missile tests and hostile language directed at the United States, is drawing closer to a very unsafe nuclear posture.

Japan has been somewhat reassured after Mattis visited Tokyo and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Trump in Washington and Mar-a-Lago in Florida, with each USA official stating that the United States would support its allies.

“North Korea is behaving very badly”. He has also said the US would not continue participating in the U.N. Human Rights Council unless it undergoes “considerable reform”.

Tillerson’s statement about a preemptive strike on North Korea presents another bad alternative. Washington says the manoeuvres are routine and defensive.

Later Tillerson repeated that all options were on the table and added, “Certainly we do not want for things to get to a military conflict”. He spoke through a translator.

China is being pressed by the United States to implement sanctions against North Korea.

Last week, North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into the sea off Japan in response to annual U.S. Experts say it could have a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the United States within a few years.

In prepared remarks, Tillerson said he hoped to deepen cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea “in the face of North Korea’s unsafe and unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs”.

He said his trip was meant to get input from other governments.

Tillerson’s message towards China was also similar in Japan: as its largest trading partner, take a more prominent role in containing North Korea. Four more tests have followed, including two previous year.

South Korea’s conservative Dong-A Ilbo daily quoted an unidentified South Korean foreign ministry official as saying that the Seoul visit was a short working trip and that “diplomatic meals are not essential” on such visits.

“The US commitment to the defence of Japan and its other treaty allies through the full range of our military capabilities is unwavering”, he promised.

USA officials insist the system has nothing to do with China and point out that it is not an offensive weapon. But his words were a clear warning, backed up by the US decision last month to send nuclear-capable B-1 and B-52 bombers to participate in recent joint U.S.

Kishida described the trilateral cooperation as “indispensable”.

“The overall China-U.S. relationship really needs better clarity that can only be achieved by a meeting between our two leaders – a face-to-face meeting – and some time for them to be together and some time for us to exchange views in a number of these areas – whether they’re economic or security or cultural and people to people”, he said. -South Korea military drills, which the North sees as preparation for war.