FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/REX TILLERSON/SOUTH KOREA/STATE: “Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said ‘it’s too early to judge’ whether new overtures involving North and South Korea could lead to a serious diplomatic process regarding Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program…
Mr. Tillerson’s comments followed a weekend in which the start of the Winter Olympics in South Korea gave rise to series of moves to ease tensions by both Seoul and Pyongyang. The two countries entered the Games together and fielded a unified women’s ice hockey team. The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended the Games, met with South Korea’s leader and delivered an invitation for a North-South meeting in Pyongyang…
Mr. Tillerson and others have said previously the U.S. would be willing to hold talks with the North on nonsubstantive issues, but that serious negotiations would require a commitment by North Korea to denuclearize the Korean peninsula. Mr. Pence echoed that stance, drawing a distinction between talks and negotiations, in an interview with the Washington Post on a flight out of Seoul… Still, Mr. Tillerson on Monday said ‘we’ll have to wait and see’ if recent developments portend anything substantive.”
-Felicia Schwartz, “Tillerson: Too Early to Assess Latest North-South Korea Overtures,” The Wall Street Journal online, Feb. 12, 2018 08:58am