Rex Tillerson Proves the U.S. Is Done Messing With North Korea
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un desperately wants to be recognized as a major nuclear power in the world, which is why he repeatedly provokes the world with nuclear test detonations and ballistic missile tests.
So, as usual, on the eve of a major meeting between the leaders of the United States and China, he ordered yet another missile test—just as a reminder that he’s still in Pyonyang. Never mind that it was, as one military official put it, a “spectacular failure”—prematurely exploding less than a minute into its flight—the objective is just to rattle U.S. and its allies’ resolve.
As far as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is concerned, that, too, was a spectacular failure. In a very blunt official statement, counting just 23 words in length, the nation’s top diplomat made it clear the Trump administration has had just about enough of North Korea’s antics.
“North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment.”
Immediately, the liberal mainstream media spun itself in circles trying to figure out what he could have possibly meant. CNN called it “incredibly odd and confusing,” while others described it as “terse”—perhaps the biggest understatement of the year to date.
If you go back to past statements from the administration, including those given in the background briefing ahead of tomorrow’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, it’s clear the U.S. is putting as much diplomatic pressure as is reasonably possible on China to do something. But, if Beijing refuses to act, the U.S. has also made it clear we’re more than willing to do so.
This remains a very dangerous situation for the world that we should all be praying over.
Meanwhile, Tillerson is slated to lead a United Nations Security Council meeting on North Korea later this month during which the body will discuss how to deal with its banned nuclear and missile programs. The Hermit Kingdom has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006—sanctions the 15-member Security Council strengthened after each of North its five nuclear tests.
“We do need to talk about it in terms of what are we as a council are going to do to deal with North Korea and how do we push that forward,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said earlier this week. “So we hope that we get as many foreign ministers to come as possible.”