Tillerson on North Korea: Military action is 'an option'

[ProudLib72]

link: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/17/politics/tillerson-south-korea-dmz/

Seoul (CNN)The US would consider military action against North Korea if it was provoked, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday.
Speaking in Seoul at a joint press conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Tillerson said Washington's policy of "strategic patience" had ended.
"Certainly, we do not want things to get to a military conflict ... but obviously, if North Korea takes actions that threatens the South Korean forces or our own forces, then that would be met with an appropriate response," he said, in response to a question from CNN.

"If they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe that requires action, that option is on the table," Tillerson added.

[Turbineguy]

1. Yeah, that's right smart guy....

When you work for trump, you play the trump card first.

[DesertRat]

2. Yikes, and Trump is taunting them on Twitter

Get ready for an unwinnable war!

Link to tweet

[Bengus81]

3. Well....Trump has to start WAR somewhere to get his sagging ratings up...

especially if he wants to run again. So...yeah,we'll be at War sometime while that POS is in office. You can BANK on it.

[DonCoquixote]

4. is hard to believe that this man is either incompetent

or outright insane. He knows going to war with North Korea is potentially going to war with China. Even the old Soviet Union was not that stupid. then again, a war with China is of course what those who want to turn America into a perpetual war camp would love, simply because he is unwinnable, and is the sort of thing that can go ahead and consume the country for generations.

Rex, I understood that you want to go ahead and get a Russian money,, and that playing diplomat was a means to that end. Do you really think that your buddy is Vladimir and Igor will be in any hurry to sell you that oil if they have to worry about their seven border going nuts? Especially because someone in Beijing is probably figured out that Vladimir is trying to use us as a buffer against them. You know that even if a war in the South China Sea just makes it hard for Walmart to sell its plastic, that will leave a hole in both economies that will cause casualties that you might not even be able to count. We know Moscow is thought of that, especially Alexander Dugan, Vladimir Putin's Rasputin,, as well as his counterpart, fellow Leninist Steve Bannon.

Keep in mind, this will destroy everything your life you worked for, including your money. and you know Steve will just go ahead and have you killed, just to gratify his ego.

[MineralMan]

5. Well, Tillerson's going to be in China.

I'd love to hear the conversations he has there.

[dalton99a]

9. China will probably tell him it doesn't want to take care of millions of refugees

[MineralMan]

10. China has a tenuous relationship with North Korea.

On one side, it is an important buffer and sort of an ally. On the other, Kim Un is a smoldering powder keg who is not actually under very good control from China.

And then there is the balance between trade and ideology. Those two things teeter in and out of balance all the time.

Tillerson may either be the clumsy bull in that china shop or a clever negotiator. I have no idea which. I don't know him at all, so I worry. He sort of dissed the South Koreans by skipping a dinner there, although he did dine in Japan with the leadership. There was a message sent by that, certainly.

Tillerson is also keeping the media that has followed him at a distance, with the exception of the Fox News bunch. I can't really interpret that very well at all. I haven't heard anything about what he's doing in China yet, so I should probably go have a look.

All three countries he's visiting are inextricably tied together in the conflict with North Korea. There are subtle signals he is sending right now, but I don't know enough to interpret them, and don't know what's happening in China while he's there. But, make no mistake, this visit is all about North Korea.

We're not going to find out much about it, either.

[Historic NY]

6. Trump want us winning wars again.....

wait, no one won the Korean police action.

[Stuart G]

7. send fucking Tillerson..give him a uniform, make him a private..and send him..

he needs to see it...experience it..be in a war...give him 24 hours on front line...

see how that is...

[dalton99a]

8. Trump diplomacy at work.

[ProudLib72]

11. What diplomacy?

Bang them over the head with a stick?