Tillerson calls for 'painful' measures to punish North Korea
UNITED NATIONS —
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Friday for new economic sanctions on North Korea and other "painful" measures over its nuclear weapons program, and he asked other countries to suspend diplomatic relations with the communist regime.
Tillerson's push at a special session of the U.N. Security Council came as the Trump administration signaled it is
willing to bargain directly with North Korea over ending its nuclear weapons program, but under strict conditions.
"Failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences," Tillerson said. "The more we bide our time, the sooner we will run out of it."
Past diplomatic efforts to talk North Korea out of its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities have failed, Tillerson said during the unusual high-level session called to review what the Trump administration calls its most dire national security concern.
In blunt terms, Tillerson said North Korea is unlikely to give up its weapons or change its bellicose behavior under current sanctions and diplomatic condemnations. He said new economic penalties are necessary, as well as more vigorous enforcement of existing sanctions that he said North Korea has found ways to evade.
Trump says 'major conflict' with North Korea possible
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President Trump said April 28 that he's pressing for a diplomatic solution to the standoff with North Korea over its nuclear program, but a military confrontation can't be ruled out. (Reuters)
"I urge this council to act before North Korea does," Tillerson said. "We must work together to adopt a new approach and impose increased diplomatic and economic pressure on the North Korean regime."
In a clear warning to North Korean ally China, Tillerson said nations that help North Korea evade sanctions or tolerate illicit trade that supports the regime "discredit this body."
"We must levy new sanctions on DPRK entities and individuals supporting its weapons and missile programs, and tighten those already in place," he said, using the acronym for the country's formal name Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.
Tillerson's call for new sanctions followed remarks by President Trump that direct conflict is possible.
"There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely," Trump told Reuters in an interview this week.
The president added: "We'd love to solve things diplomatically, but it's very difficult."
North Korea propaganda video shows simulated U.S. attack
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A North Korean propaganda video shows a simulated attack on the U.S., amid rising tensions between North Korea and the United States. (
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Tillerson noted that China accounts for 90 percent of North Korean trade, giving it unique economic leverage.
He said the United States and China have had productive discussions about North Korea, and the new U.S. willingness to negotiate with North Korea is partly in deference to China's long insistence that the only way to lessen tension is through direct talks.
"The United States also would much prefer countries and people in question own up to their lapses and correct their behavior themselves, but we will not hesitate to sanction third country entities and individuals supporting the DPRK's illegal activities."
He asked other nations to suspend or downgrade diplomatic relations with the regime, which he said has used diplomatic privileges to evade sanctions and flout the U.N. Security Council.
"Constraining its diplomatic activity will cut off a flow of needed resources. In light of North Korea's recent actions, normal relations with the DPRK are unacceptable," Tillerson said.
He also asked other countries to stop any trade with North Korea that can indirectly fund the country's nuclear and missile programs, called for bans to prevent North Korean imports, especially coal and an end to a guest worker program that brings in low-cot labor to North Korea.
In the most detailed explanation of the new Trump administration's emerging policy for dealing with North Korea, Tillerson said U.S. urgency is driven by the current nuclear threat to allies South Korea and Japan as well as the likelihood that North Korea will soon be able to strike the United States.
"All options for responding to future provocation must remain on the table. Diplomatic and financial levers of power will be backed up by a willingness to counteract North Korean aggression with military action if necessary," Tillerson said.
"We much prefer a negotiated solution to this problem. But we are committed to defending ourselves and our allies against North Korean aggression."
U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, who joined Tillerson and foreign ministers from countries that sit on the decision-making council, condemned what he called North Korea's repeated violations of the body's resolutions over nuclear and missile testing and development.
"I am alarmed by the risk of a military escalation in the region, including by miscalculation or misunderstanding," Guterres said.
The U.N. Security Council session Friday comes at a particularly tense time in relations between North Korea and the United States, with the Trump administration sending warships to the region in a show of force against Kim Jong Un's regime.
This week, North Korea conducted large-scale artillery drills, showing off conventional weaponry that can easily reach South Korea's capital, Seoul, the center of a metropolitan region that is home to about 25 million people.
A North Korean propaganda outlet released a video clip on Thursday showing a simulated attack on the White House and declaring that ability to destroy the United States "is in our sights."
The Trump administration has said that military action to head off further North Korean nuclear weapons development is not out of the question, but it remains unlikely. A goal of future U.N. diplomacy could be to draw lines for when escalation by North Korea would justify retaliatory action by the United States or others, diplomats and arms control experts said.
At issue is the simultaneous effort in North Korea to perfect a nuclear warhead that could be delivered far from its shores and develop missiles with a range long enough to be a threat to the United States. Undeterred, analysts believe North Korea could have that capability within a few years — likely during Trump's first term in office. North Korea already possesses missiles able to threaten U.S. allies South Korea and Japan, as well as other Asian neighbors.
In interviews Thursday with NPR and Fox News, Tillerson said the United States is willing to talk to North Korea once North Korea takes steps to show it is ready for a productive discussion.
In setting terms for direct talks — that they be directed at getting rid of North Korea's nuclear weapons entirely, rather than freezing the program in exchange for economic benefits — Tillerson said the Trump administration is taking a tougher line than in past efforts by both Democratic and Republican administrations, but it still caries strong echoes of earlier policy.
At the Security Council, Tillerson said the United States prefers a diplomatic solution.
"North Korea must understand that respect will never follow recklessness," he said. "North Korea must take concrete steps to reduce the threat that its illegal weapons programs pose to the United States and our allies before we can consider talks."
The last round of direct talks, initiated in 2003 and involving the United States, China and other nations, produced no rollback of the North Korean program. Last month, during his first trip to South Korea, Japan and China, Tillerson declared that the "era of strategic patience" that included those talks was over, and that "all options" were now on the table.
"I first spoke to the Chinese on my first trip to Beijing to make clear to them that we were unwilling to negotiate our way to the negotiating table," Tillerson said in the Fox News interview. "And I think that's the mistakes of the past," he added. "The regime in North Korea has to position itself in a different place in order for us to be willing to engage in talks."
Trump has been urging China to apply pressure on North Korea and has warned that his administration will act if Beijing does not.
China supports talks and has long argued that although it also wants to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons, it cannot persuade North Korea to give them up without direct assurances from the United States.
Tillerson offered some Friday, telling the council that the United States is not seeking "regime change" to topple the family dynasty of Kim Jong Un.
Although the council is not voting on new sanctions or other measures Friday, the Trump administration hoped for a show of force with the entire council, including China, Russia, and the United States, coming together to air concerns about North Korea's behavior.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the council that diplomacy is not hopeless, and he said China cannot be expected to rein in North Korea on its own.
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"The state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula is not caused by any single party, nor is it reasonable to ask any party to take sole responsblity," Wang said via an interpreter.
"We call upon all parties, especially those directly concerned — DPRK and the U.S. — to demonstrate sincerity for dialogue and restart dialogue," Wang said. "China will be open too all useful proposals from the parties."
Showing a willingness to hold talks with North Korea could help the United States get a more unified front, but Washington risks alienating other Security Council members if it tries to set terms other countries would see as unrealistic.
"Until and unless the United States shows a willingness to engage in at least 'talks about talks' with North Korea, it is very unlikely they will agree to support new sanctions against North Korea," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. "If Trump and his team insist on a North Korean commitment to 'denuclearization' before talks can begin, other members of [the] council will see the U.S. call for 'engagement' as unserious and will not support new … sanctions."
