“Tillerson: Trump Is Using Language Kim Jong Un Can Understand”, NPR
Bill Chappell, The Two-Way, Breaking News From NPR, August 9, 2017
As two nuclear-armed leaders trade threats, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says that President Trump “is sending a strong message to North Korea in language that Kim Jong Un would understand, because he doesn’t seem to understand diplomatic language.”
The language has been increasingly fiery. After Trump said on Tuesday that if North Korea continues to threaten the U.S., the country would “be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen,” the North Korean regime responded by saying it’s considering a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.
Tillerson offered his take on the current tensions during a quick stop in Guam, where his plane refueled on a tour that has included a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Speaking to reporters on his plane, Tillerson said he didn’t see an imminent threat to Guam and hadn’t considered changing his route.
According to a pool report from his talk with reporters aboard the State Department plane, Tillerson was also asked if Americans should be worried. He replied, “I think Americans should sleep well at night” and not be concerned by recent statements.
The escalation in rhetoric follows a U.N. Security Council resolution to strengthen economic sanctions against North Korea — a measure that could block roughly a third of the country’s exports. And on the same day Trump and Kim exchanged barbs, a report emerged that U.S. intelligence analysts believe North Korea has succeeded in developing a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit on its missiles.
Speaking Wednesday morning, Tillerson said, “Nothing I have seen and nothing I know of would indicate that situation has dramatically changed in the last 24 hours.
As for the recent exchanges between Trump and North Korea, Tillerson said, “I think the U.S. and the international community with respect to North Korea, has actually had a pretty good week,” citing the sanctions and statements of solidarity from nations at the ASEAN meetings in the Philippines.
The sanctions were adopted over the weekend; on Monday, North Korea accused the U.S. of a “felonious crime” and threatened “to take ultimate measures.”
When asked about the tone of the current exchange, Tillerson said, according to the pool report:
“North Korea’s rhetoric is just ratcheted up, louder and louder and more threatening. So I think the president, what the president is doing is sending a strong message to North Korea in language that Kim Jong Un would understand, because he doesn’t seem to understand diplomatic language.
“I think the president just wanted to be clear to the North Korean regime that the U.S. has unquestionable ability to defend itself, will defend itself and its allies, and I think it was important that he deliver that message to avoid any miscalculation on their part.”
North Korea’s change in tone shows that it’s feeling pressure in the face of an international community that wants stability on the Korean peninsula, Tillerson said.
“Whether we’ve got them backed into a corner or not is difficult to say,” he added. “But diplomatically you never like to have someone in a corner without a way for them to get out.”
As for what North Korea’s way out looks like, Tillerson replied that the country’s leaders in Pyongyang should agree to talks about its nuclear program — and with “the right expectations” of the scope of the discussion.