Secretary of State Rex Tilleron on a visit to Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping said today that the U.S. has “direct” talks with North Korea. In the first signs of dialogue, Tillerson said he’s trying to “calm things down” after North Korean President Kim Jong-un detonated a hydrogen bomb Sept. 3. When President Donald Trump spoke to the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 19, he said the U.S. would “totally destroy” North Korea if it continued to threaten the U.S. and its allies with a nuclear strike. North Korea’s official state news agency KCNA threatened Sept 13 to turn the U.S. to “ashes and darkness,” “sink” Japan and “wipe out” South Korea with nuclear weapons. North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said Sept. 25 the U.S. “declared war” on North Korea, prompting the belligerent exchanges, pushing both countries to the brink of war.
Trump said Sept. 26 that the U.S. was ready for the military option, prompting North Korea to threaten detonating a hydrogen in the Pacific somewhere near Japan. While Tillerson said there are back-channel talks going on in North Korea, that doesn’t mean that Kim’s going to give up his nukes and ballistic missiles. “We have lines of communication to Pyongyang. We are not in a dark situation, a blackout,” said Tillerson in Beijing. Without specifics, Tillerson said he’s trying to “calm things down,” despite the basic fact that Trump insists North Korea must disarm. Tillerson’s back-channel talks, while something, don’t change the warnings given to U.S. allies to prepare for an attack on North Korea. Tillerson believes the recent round of U.N. sanctions are beginning to have an effect. No past U.N. sanctions over 25 years have stopped North Korea’s nuke and ballistic missile program.
Tillerson’s remarks in Beijing give a glimmer of hope to the U.N. and European Union terrified of a U.S. attack on Pyongyang. “We are seeing what we can observe, and the Chinese are telling us, that is having some effect, and [the Chinese] have a pretty close view of it,” said Tillerson, giving some hope, but also diverting attention away from the Pentagon’s feverish preparation for war with North Korea. With North Korea’s nuclear threats against the U.S., Trump has no choice but to neutralize North Korea’s nukes and ballistic missiles Talking to back-channels in Pyongyang is better than nothing but, in the end, makes no difference unless Kim disarms. Tillerson hopes to “calm things down” enough to stop Kim’s next nuke detonation. White House officials have notified its allies, including the U.K. and Australia, to prepare for a U.S. military strike.
North Korea has warned the U.S. that it reserves the right to shoot down U.S. B1-B strategic bombers flying over international airspace. “Our country has every right to take countermeasures,” Ri Hong-ho said Sept. 25. It’s doubtful that Kim has the missile defense systems needed to shoot down any U.S. strategic bombers at high altitude. Regardless of all the threats by both sides, Tillerson’s making a concerted attempt to cross-all-the-Ts and dot-all-the-Is on the diplomacy front. Before military action, Tillerson has to give the appearance that the U.S. did everything possible to avoid war. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Sept. 25 that the U.S. wouldn’t attack Pyongyang because Kim has nukes and ballistic missiles. No one at the Pentagon believes North Korea has the missile technology yet to hit the U.S. homeland with a nuke.
Tillerson told the world in Beijing today that the U.S. does not accept North Korea as a nuclear state. “We have been clear publicly, the region has been clear publicly, that we are not going to accept a nuclear-armed North Korea,” said Tillerson, unwilling to accept Russian and China’s bridging proposals to end the crisis. China and Russia have urged Trump to end joint-military exercises with South Korea, in exchange for North Korea halting its nuke and ballistic missile program. Putin said Sept. 5 that Kim would rather “eat grass” than give up his nukes and ballistic missiles. China and Russia, allies with North Korea in the 1950 – 1953 Korean War, aren’t prepared to stop a U.S. strike on Pyongyang. Concerned about a refugee crisis on the Chinese border from a U.S. attack, Beijing doesn’t want U.S.-backed South Korea taking over North Korea
Tillerson’s last-ditch diplomacy is more PR than a realistic attempt to get North Korea to disarm. Whatever back-channels Tillerson opened up in Pyongyang, it’s unlikely to change anything with Kim’s nuke and ballistic missile program. Trump’s options are limited to what he calls a “devastating” attack on Pyongyang to neutralize Kim’s command-and-control. If Trump leaves Kim any military capacity, he’s likely to unload his arsenal of South Korea. With 25 million South Koreans living in Seoul, Kim could wreak a lot damage in one of the world’s most prosperous capitals. There’s no greater economic contrast between North and South Korea. If there’s any proof of success or failure between communism or capitalism, it’S in North and South Korea. Tillerson’s done his best as the U.S. chief diplomat to try to avoid what looks like an inevitable attack on North Korea.
