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Tillerson is making his 1st trip to Asia as secretary of state
The Associated Press
Posted: Mar 16, 2017 4:06 AM ET
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2017 4:18 AM ET
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has called on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, saying the isolated nation “has nothing to fear” from the United States.
Tillerson made that declaration after meeting his Japanese counterpart Thursday in Tokyo, where they discussed possible new approaches in dealing with the isolated nation.
He said that 20 years of U.S. diplomatic and other efforts to get North Korea to denuclearize have failed, but gave no specifics about how the Trump administration, which is currently doing a policy review, would tackle the issue.
Tillerson, who will meet later today with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, is making his first trip to Asia as the top U.S. diplomat.
He said cooperation with allies Japan and South Korea is “critical” to addressing the threat from North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
Both Tillerson and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida urged China to push Pyongyang to change.
Japan and South Korea both host tens of thousands of U.S. troops. Washington has been urging the two nations to step security cooperation despite their historically strained relations. This week, the nations’ three navies have conducted missile defense information-sharing drills in the region.
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