FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/REX TILLERSON: “The Trump administration’s top diplomat said the US is willing to engage in talks with North Korea, even as President Donald Trump warned about the possibility of armed conflict with the nuclear-armed regime.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told NPR Thursday [4-27-17] that the US would be willing to negotiate with Pyongyang. It’s a step other administrations have been reluctant to do, seeing it as a reward for the regime’s aggressive and belligerent behavior. It’s also a step that Vice President Mike Pence ruled out less than two weeks ago.
Asked if the administration would consider talks, Tillerson said, “Obviously, that will be the way we would like to solve this. But North Korea has to decide they’re ready to talk to us about the right agenda, and the right agenda is not simply stopping where they are for a few more months or a few more years and then resuming things. That’s been the agenda for the last 20 years.”
But in his own interview on Thursday, Trump warned, ‘There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea, absolutely.’ “
-Elise Labott, Nicole Gaoutte, And Laura Koran, “US looks to ratchet up global pressure on North Korea at UN,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 28, 2017 9:49am