President Trump called on Russia to help exert pressure on North Korea, as the administration signaled anew Friday that a door to negotiations with Pyongyang could open if the North Korean regime halts all nuclear and missile provocations.
“A cessation of North Korea’s threatening behavior must occur before talks can begin,” said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. “North Korea must earn its way back to the table.”
Mr. Tillerson’s remarks, during an appearance before the U.N. Security Council in New York, came just after Mr. Trump appeared outside the White House Friday to express dissatisfaction over what he described as a lack of help from Russia, which has long maintained a precarious alliance with Pyongyang.
North Korea’s other main ally, China, is “helping,” Mr. Trump said. “Russia is not helping.”
But the president added that he’s hopeful Moscow will begin exerting pressure on neighboring North Korea to scale missile and nuclear weapons programs.
“We would love to have his help,” Mr. Trump said of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We’d like to have Russia’s help — very important,” he added.
Mr. Trump’s plea came a day after Mr. Putin had made headlines with his own comments on North Korea.
During the Russian president’s annual press conference in Moscow on Thursday, he warned Washington not to use force against North Korea, asserting that the consequences would be “catastrophic.”
Mr. Putin said he’s been encouraged by Mr. Tillerson’s openness toward talks with Pyongyang, but added it seems “weird” that U.S. leaders expect Moscow to cooperate at a moment when Washington has sanctions against both Russia and North Korea.
The Russian president said he hopes U.S.-Russian relations will “normalize,” and spoke positively of Mr. Trump, defending him against allegations that have swirled in some American media of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
There was nothing untoward about meetings Russians held with Trump campaign officials and family members last year, Mr. Putin said. While he did not address U.S. intelligence charges of Kremlin meddling in the election, he echoed an argument the Trump administration itself has made — saying collusion allegations have been “invented by people who oppose President Trump, to undermine his legitimacy.”
Mr. Putin also praised Mr. Trump’s economic policies.
The White House said Thursday night that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin had spoken by telephone following the press conference in Moscow, with Mr. Trump thanking the Russian president for his remarks “acknowledging America’s strong economic performance.”
The two also “discussed working together to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea,” according to a White House statement.
On Friday, Mr. Trump said that during the call, Mr. Putin said “very nice things about what I’ve done for this country in terms of the economy.”
“And then he said also some negative things in terms of what’s going on elsewhere,” Mr. Trump added, without elaborating.
More pressure needed
Mr. Tillerson, meanwhile, used his appearance before the Security Council on Friday to increase pressure on both Russia and China to exert more influence on Pyongyang.
The secretary of state expressed frustration over a deal that currently sees Moscow sending millions of dollars in payments the North Korean regime for laborers, who work for almost nothing on the Russian side of the border between the two nations.
“Continuing to allow North Korean laborers to toil in slave-like conditions inside Russia in exchange for wages used to fund nuclear weapons programs calls into question Russia’s dedication as a partner for peace,” Mr. Tillerson said.
He went on to criticize China’s ongoing willingness to provide oil to North Korea, asserting that, “as Chinese crude oil flows to North Korean refineries, the United States questions China’s commitment to solving an issue that has serious implications for the security of its own citizens.”
At the same time, Mr. Tillerson said outright that the Trump administration does “not seek, no do we want, war with North Korea.”
While he emphasized that “all options remain on the table,” the secretary of state said the administration is keeping “channels of communication open” with Pyongyang.
But Mr. Tillerson’s walked back statements he’d made earlier this week that had seemed to suggest the administration might be willing to engage Pyongyang in serious negotiations without any preconditions.
’No preconditions’
At the U.N., Mr. Tillerson was firm on the preconditions issue.
Aside from demanding “a sustained cessation” by North Korea of its repeated long-range nuclear weapons tests and other aggressive actions, he said outright that “there are no preconditions for talks, nor will we accept preconditions from North Korea or others.”
Last month’s test-fire by Pyongyang of a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile traveled higher and farther than any previous missile test to date. The launch, carried out from a North Korean weapons facility in Sain Ni, forced Japanese officials to put the Japan’s northern provinces — located along the missile’s trajectory — on high alert.
On China, Mr. Tillerson echoed assertions made earlier in the week by National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who expressed frustration that Beijing, which has long been North Korea’s main economic partner and ally, is not doing more to pressure Pyongyang.
China has publicly expressed support for a slew of new economic and political sanctions by the White House and the U.N., but has yet to apply the maximum amount of pressure needed, Mr. McMaster said Tuesday.
“Time is running out and they need to do more” to further isolate and influence the regime of North Korean President Kim Jong-un, the three-star general said in a speech sponsored by the U.K.-based think tank Policy Exchange in Washington.
“The time is now to do more [beyond] U.N. resolutions,” Mr. McMaster added.
• Dave Boyer and Dan Boylan contributed to this story.
• Carlo Muñoz can be reached at cmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
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