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Tillerson: Regime Change Not an Objective in North Korea

Brandon Kirby

In an interview on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared that the Trump administration has no plans for a regime change in North Korea.

“I think in terms of North Korea, we have been very clear that our objective is a denuclearized Korean peninsula,” Tillerson noted. “We have no objective to change the regime in North Korea, that is not our objective.”

“I think the message that any nation can take is if you violate international norms, if you violate international agreements, if you fail to live up to commitments, if you become a threat to others, at some point a response is likely to be undertaken,” he said in response to a question about the Syrian airbase strikes.

While Tillerson did not explicitly mention the possibility of military action, the U.S. recently took preliminary steps indicating that they’re prepared to act if the North Korean government does not cease missile development; the Trump administration has dispatched a strike force to the region, including the USS Carl Vinson, guided-missile destroyers, and a guided-missile cruiser.

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Trump threatened unilateral action in an attempt to deter North Korean nuclear ambitions.

“If China is not going to solve [the situation in] North Korea, we will,” Trump stated. “That is all I am telling you.”

The administration is undoubtedly concerned about the development of a nuclear program in North Korea.

“Clearly, [Kim Jong-Un] has made significant advancements in delivery systems,” Tillerson said. “And that is what concerns us the most: the sophistication around their rocket launch programs, their sophistication around the type of fueling that they use, and they’re working their way towards the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.”

Beginning in 2006, the U.N. passed a number of resolutions imposing sanctions on North Korea. However, a report in February from the U.N. has determined that North Korea has flouted the sanctions.

Tillerson declined to comment on if the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile was a “red line” for President Trump.

 

Photo Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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Brandon Kirby

Brandon Kirby has a philosophy degree from the University of New Brunswick and is a current MBA candidate finishing his thesis. He is an AML officer specializing in hedge funds in the Cayman Islands, owns a real estate company in Canada, and has been in the financial industry since 2004. He is the director of Being Libertarian - Canada and the president of the Libertarian Party of Canada.

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