Top US diplomat Rex Tillerson has visited the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the line that has divided the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) since the Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953.
The US secretary of state arrived in the ROK on Friday for the second leg of his Asian tour. He said two decades of efforts for a denuclearized DPRK had failed, and a “different approach” is needed to face the escalating nuclear threat from the DPRK.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and ROK acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn. /CFP Photo
Tillerson in Tokyo didn’t specify what new course would be followed, however. It is not known yet if Tillerson brought up the topic when he met ROK acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn, who has decided not to run for election to the Blue House.
"The policy of strategic patience has ended," Tillerson said at a joint press conference with his ROK counterpart Yun Byung-se. He told journalists all options were on the table for the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, warning denuclearization was the only path for the DPRK to achieve security and economic stability.
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Tillerson didn’t rule out direct diplomatic efforts, but stated “conditions” must be changed before any talks - no matter if they included five parties or six.
Earlier in the day, Tillerson arrived at Osan Air Base in the ROK from Japan and then transferred to a Blackhawk helicopter for his trip to the DMZ. There he met the commander of the 28,000 US troops stationed in the ROK.
Tillerson boards a UH-60 Blackhawk after he arrived at US Osan Air Base on March 17, 2017. /CFP Photo
After a short stop in Seoul, Tillerson will head to China on Saturday. China has shared concerns with regional countries as well as the US over Pyongyang's ambition to advance its nuclear arms, but Beijing is infuriated by the deployment of THAAD, a US missile defense system in the ROK.
ROK's anti-war activists hold placards showing a portrait Tillerson during a rally against the deployment of the US-built THAAD anti-missile system, outside the government complex in Seoul on March 17, 2017. /CFP Photo
Beijing has proposed a route to ease the tension that shrouds the Korean Peninsula - a halt to the joint US-ROK large scale exercises, in tandem with an end to the DPRK nuclear arsenal building. The proposal was declined by Washington, and Pyongyang has not offered a response.
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