Rex Tillerson Rejects Talks With North Korea on Nuclear Program -<br />By DAVID E. SANGERMARCH 17, 2017<br />Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, in a visit to South Korea, said if North Korea increased "the threat<br />of their weapons program” to an unacceptable level, the Trump administration would consider action.<br />SEOUL, South Korea — Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson ruled out on Friday opening any negotiation with North Korea to freeze its nuclear and missile programs and said for the first time<br />that the Trump administration might be forced to take pre-emptive action “if they elevate the threat of their weapons program” to an unacceptable level.<br />On Friday afternoon, after visiting the Demilitarized Zone<br />and peering into North Korean territory in what has become a ritual for American officials making a first visit to the South, Mr. Tillerson explicitly rejected a Chinese proposal to get the North Koreans to freeze their testing in return for the United States and South Korea suspending all annual joint military exercises, which are now underway.<br />Mr. Tillerson argued that a freeze would essentially enshrine “a comprehensive set of capabilities” North Korea possesses<br />that already pose too great a threat to the United States and its allies, and he said there would be no negotiation until the North agreed to dismantle its programs.<br />Instead, Mr. Tillerson referred vaguely to a “number of steps” the United States could take — a phrase<br />that seemed to embrace much more vigorous enforcement of sanctions, ramping up missile defenses, cutting off North Korea’s oil, intensifying the cyberwar program and striking the North’s known missile sites.
