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Washington has opened channels to
North Korea to find out if the regime is
ready to talk about giving up its nuclear
weapons, Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson said Saturday .
Speaking after a day of talks with
China’s President Xi Jinping and top
diplomats, Tillerson told reporters that
US officials are in touch with
Pyongyang.
The disclosure follows an escalating war
of words between US President Donald
Trump and North Korean strongman
Kim Jong- Un , and Tillerson issued a call
for calm.
Asked how he could know whether the
North would even contemplate
responding to new sanctions by coming
to the table, the US envoy said : “ We are
probing , so stay tuned .”
Washington has no diplomatic ties with
Kim ’s autocratic regime , and has been
leaning on Beijing to rein in its
neighbour’ s behaviour through tougher
sanctions .
But Tillerson said US diplomats do not
rely on China as a go - between in
overtures to North Korea , and have
themselves talked directly through “ our
own channels .”
“ We ask ,” he said . “ We have lines of
communication with Pyongyang. We ’re
not in a dark situation, a blackout , we
have a couple , three channels open to
Pyongyang.”
“ We can talk to them , we do talk to
them ,” he said .
The US has not ruled out the use of force
to compel Pyongyang to halt missile and
nuclear tests, and last week Trump
threatened to “ totally destroy” the
country .
But privately senior figures admit the
military options do not look promising,
with ally South Korea’ s densely
populated capital Seoul in range of the
North ’s artillery .
Rocket man
Tillerson, meanwhile , has been a
proponent of a campaign of “ peaceful
pressure” , using US and UN sanctions
and working with China to turn the
screw on the regime .
But his efforts have been overshadowed
by an extraordinary war of words , with
Trump mocking Kim as “ little Rocket
Man” and Kim branding the US leader a
“ dotard” .
Even as Tillerson met Xi and China’s top
diplomats State Councillor Yang Jiechi
and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the
North ’s propaganda agency fired a new
barrage of insults.
The statement proclaimed Trump an
“ old psychopath ” bent on the “ suicidal
act of inviting a nuclear disaster that
will reduce America to a sea of flames” .
North Korea ’s rhetoric has been backed
by a provocative series of ballistic
missile tests and on September 3 it
conducted its sixth and most powerful
nuclear test .
In the decade since the North ’s first
nuclear explosion it has made rapid
progress in developing the kind of
missile technology that would allow it to
hit US targets .
Washington, backed by most of the
international community , has declared
North Korea ’s programme unacceptable,
fearing that its own vast arsenal will not
deter Kim from attack .
With the world on edge , fears are
growing that a miscalculation from
either side could trigger a renewed
deadly conflict on the divided Korean
peninsula.
Some recent tests saw North Korean
missiles flying over Japan en route to
the Pacific , and its latest underground
detonation seems to have been of a
powerful hydrogen bomb.
Observers have expressed concern that
if the North carries out an atmospheric
nuclear test over the ocean, Washington
will feel obliged to take risky military
action.
Heated rhetoric
But Tillerson said that decision would
be up to Trump alone and that “ as far
as I know the commander in chief has
issued no red lines .”
Tillerson instead called for calm ,
singling out Pyongyang’s missile tests
for criticism, but not rushing to defend
Trump ’s own heated rhetoric and
bellicose tweets .
“ The whole situation is a bit overheated
right now . I think everyone would like
for it to calm down , ” he said in
response to a question about Trump ’s
threats.
“ I think if North Korea would stop
firing all the missiles , that would calm
down things a lot ,” he said .
Tillerson, who was in Beijing to plan for
a summit that Xi will host for Trump in
November, welcomed recent measures
taken by China to crack down on its
neighbour.
The opening remarks at his three
meetings with Xi , Yang and Wang
contained no reference to North Korea,
but he said afterwards the issue had
been discussed .
US leaders criticised Beijing for taking
too soft a line with Pyongyang, but in
recent weeks China has taken more
drastic measures to cut off trade and
finance.
And in public , at least , the Chinese
officials were all smiles for their guest.
Xi touted what he said was his “ good
working relationship and personal
friendship” with Trump and predicted
that the summit “ will be a special,
wonderful and successful one” .
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