Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared that Washington was ready to open talks with North Korea without precondition, but only a few hours later, the White House distanced itself from his overture.
Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that President Donald Trump still held the same position on North Korea. That means that talks are assessed as pointless if Kim Jong-un continues to menace his neighbors, The New York Times reports.
“North Korea is acting in an unsafe way not only toward Japan, China, and South Korea, but the entire world. North Korea’s actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea,” Sanders said.
According to The Times, this is the last example of a public rift between Trump and Tillerson. Several weeks ago Trump wrote on Twitter that Tillerson was wasting his time trying to open diplomatic lines to Pyongyang, but this time his remarks came after reports that official Washington is laying the groundwork for Tillerson to leave the State Department.
Unnamed sources have said that White House officials were alarmed by Tillerson’s conciliatory tone because they were afraid that it would cause confusion among allies after Trump railed them behind a policy of maximum pressure. In the meantime, nothing indicates that Tillerson would change his stance.
“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. 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?” he said while speaking to the Atlantic Council.
According to some officials, Tillerson’s stance opposes the view of the White House that negotiations will probably not happen soon because of nuclear devices and ballistic missile tests North Korea has recently conducted.
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