Tillerson: US Diplomacy With North Korea to Continue Until ‘First Bomb Drops’

Tillerson: US Diplomacy With North Korea to Continue Until ‘First Bomb Drops’
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson listens during a UN Security Council meeting concerning nuclear non-proliferation at the UN Headquarters in New York on Sept. 21, 2017. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
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WASHINGTON—Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday, Oct. 15, that President Donald Trump had instructed him to continue diplomatic efforts to calm rising tensions with North Korea, saying “those diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops.”

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Tillerson downplayed messages that President Trump had previously posted on Twitter suggesting Tillerson was wasting his time trying to negotiate with “Little Rocket Man,” a derogatory nickname Trump has coined for North Korea’s communist dictator Kim Jong Un.