Top Diplomats and Defense Ministers of US and China Meet on North Korea

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis meet with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of the People's Liberation Army's Joint Staff Department prior to the U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue at the State Department in Washington, U.S., June 21, 2017. Reuters/Aaron P. Bernstein

A day after President Donald Trump tweeted that Chinese efforts to rein in North Korea had failed, top diplomats and defense chiefs from the United States and China began meeting to discuss ways to manage the errant state and its nuclear missile ambitions.

Trump had previously backed off much of his combative language toward China in the early months of his administration in an apparent attempt to gain China’s help on North Korea.

But after the death of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old American student who returned from 17 months in prison in North Korea in a coma, Trump seemed to acknowledge the attempt was failing.

“While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday, June 20.

Otto Frederick Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who has been detained in North Korea since early January, attends a news conference in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo on Feb. 29, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo