The U.S. is testing an intercontinental ballistic missile this morning from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, amid rising tensions with North Korea. On July 28, North Korea launched a similar missile, which experts say may be capable of reaching the West Coast of the U.S. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. is willing to engage in direct talks with North Korea, and claimed the U.S is not seeking regime change there.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: “We have reaffirmed our position towards North Korea that what we are doing, we do not seek a regime change. We do not seek the collapse of the regime. We do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula. We do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th parallel. And we’re trying to convey to the North Koreans: We are not your enemy, we’re not your threat, but you are presenting an unacceptable threat to us, and we have to respond.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is heading to Asia later this week, visiting Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, where he’ll participate in a regional security meeting about denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. Meanwhile, China’s state media has criticized President Trump for repeatedly complaining about China and North Korea in Twitter rants. The news agency wrote, “Emotional venting cannot become a guiding policy for solving the nuclear issue on the peninsula.”