FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. officials emphasized the urgency of attempts at diplomacy to ease tensions with North Korea on Tuesday [9-26-17], while the U.S. stepped up sanctions amid an escalating war of words between Washington and Pyongyang.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will travel to Beijing on Thursday as the U.S. continues to press China to pressure North Korea over its nuclear program.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Mr. Tillerson is laying the groundwork for President Donald Trump’s trip to China this year, and said this visit indicates the importance of Bejing to U.S. policy goals…
Mr. Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday both focused on U.S. diplomatic efforts after North Korea’s foreign minister on Monday said a weekend Twitter message from Mr. Trump—saying ‘North Korea won’t be around for much longer’—amounted to a declaration of war…
Mr. Mattis said in New Delhi earlier Tuesday that the effort to avert conflict on the Korean Peninsula remains a diplomatic one, even as the heated rhetoric from both sides threatens to diminish the chances of a peaceful outcome…
Mr. Mattis, in town for talks with his counterpart and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, didn’t respond specifically to a question about how the rhetoric might be increasing the chances for miscalculation on either side and whether there was a risk of miscalculation.”
-Felicia Schwartz, Ian Talley, and Chun Han Wong, “U.S. Officials Aim to Ease North Korea Tensions Amid Heated Rhetoric,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 26, 2017 07:03pm