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US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson chairs a session of the United Nations Security Council

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the US could negotiate directly with Pyongyang in order to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.

When asked during an interview with NPR on Apr. 27 whether direct dialogue between the US and North Korea would help relieve international conflict, Tillerson said, “Obviously, that [dialogue] would 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 [on nuclear development] for a few more months or a few more years and then resuming things. That's been the agenda for the last 20 years,” Tillerson went on to say.

This is being taken to mean that dialogue between North Korea and the US would be possible if Pyongyang accepts the agenda of giving up its nuclear program. The Washington Post also reported that the conditions for direct dialogue between North Korea and the US appear to be not exchanging economic benefits for a freeze on North Korea’s nuclear program but rather aimed at completely eliminating the North’s nuclear arsenal.

The US media has concluded that while the precise meaning of Tillerson’s remarks is unclear, the fact that he mentioned the possibility of direct dialogue with Pyongyang represents a definite change. Past US administrations have preferred multilateral dialogue with North Korea, such as the Six-Party Talks, to direct dialogue with the North. Tillerson’s remarks carry even more weight since they come directly from the US Secretary of State, who oversees policy toward North Korea. Just the day before, the Trump administration released a joint statement signed by Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats announcing that it would increase economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to force it to give up its nuclear and missile programs while also leaving open the door to dialogue aimed at reaching a peaceful solution.

“If you listen to the North Koreans and the regime of Pyongyang, their reason for having nuclear weapons is, they believe it is their only pathway to secure the ongoing existence of their regime. What we hope to convince them is: You do not need these weapons to secure the existence of your regime,” Tillerson said. “We do not seek regime change [. . .] we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula. We seek a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.” He also said that the US and China have the same goals.

Tillerson also said that China had warned North Korea that it would impose independent sanctions if Pyongyang carried out another nuclear test.

"[China] confirmed to us that they had requested the regime conduct no further nuclear test,” Tillerson said during an interview with Fox News on Apr. 28. He did not specify when China had issued this warning to the North.

Tillerson chaired a special meeting of the UN Security Council on North Korea on Apr. 28. During the meeting, the top diplomats of the permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council discussed ways to put pressure on North Korea. Tillerson had said that participants in the meeting would be discussing the steps that are necessary to put more pressure on North Korea and force it to rethink its current attitude.

By Hwang Sang-cheol, staff reporter

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