Tillerson: US diplomacy with North Korea will continue until ‘the first bomb drops’
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday that President Donald Trump had instructed him to continue diplomatic efforts to calm rising tensions with North Korea, saying “those diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops”.
Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Tillerson downplayed messages that Trump had previously posted on Twitter suggesting Tillerson was wasting his time trying to negotiate with “Little Rocket Man”, a derogatory nickname Trump has coined for North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un.
Trump “has made it clear to me to continue my diplomatic efforts”, Tillerson said.
Still, the comment came as the South Korean military is preparing for another possible missile launch by Pyongyang, with several media reports in Seoul citing unidentified officials as saying North Korean missile vehicles “kept appearing and disappearing” from the map.
Trump had also said cryptically during a dinner with military leaders that observers were witnessing “the calm before the storm”.
“This is a unique president,” said the former Exxon-Mobil chief, commenting on a crescendo of rumours about his vexed relationship with the White House. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that everyone sees him as the most unique president in modern history.”
Tillerson also sought to shore up perceptions that the US remains committed to the Iran nuclear deal.
On Friday, Trump said he would not certify Iranian compliance with the deal and threatened to withdraw.
“Let’s see if we cannot address the flaws within the [Iran] agreement by staying within the agreement, working with the other signatories,” Tillerson said. “We want to take the agreement as it exists, fully enforce that agreement.”
The secretary of state denied that the seeming gap between his department and the White House risked sowing confusion abroad. Hillary Clinton warned in an interview recorded earlier this week that the administration was risking a “nuclear arms race” by sowing confusion.
“Rest assured the Chinese are not confused in any way about the American policy in North Korea,” Tillerson said.
Additional reporting by The Guardian, Bloomberg
