12/14/2017

NATIONAL SECURITY/NORTH KOREA/REX TILLERSON/STATE: “The White House and State Department both stated Wednesday [12-13-17] that the US is not ready to begin talks with North Korea, a day after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had suggested the two sides could start negotiating without preconditions.
Tillerson’s offer Tuesday to “sit down and see each other face to face” seemed to signal a shift in State Department policy, but US officials have since emphasized that North Korea has not yet demonstrated it is serious about talks or changing its behavior.
‘We are open to the possibility of dialogue with North Korea, with the aim of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. But North Korea must first refrain from any further provocations and take sincere and meaningful actions toward denuclearization,’ a National Security Council spokesperson told CNN.”

-Zachary Cohen and Brian Todd, “White House reins in Tillerson’s offer to start North Korea talks,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Dec. 14, 2017 07:57am