ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- While traveling in Africa, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson struck a cautious tone Thursday on the prospect of U.S.-North Korean negotiations. The top U.S. diplomat made it clear that massive bilateral breakthroughs were not to happen overnight.

"We are a long ways from negotiations," Tillerson said. "We need to be very clear-eyed and realistic about it. I think the first step, and I've said this before, is to have talks, to have some kind of talks about talks."

Tillerson has said he's still waiting to hear that North Korea is genuinely ready to talk. During a "60 Minutes" interview, he indicated that the message would be "explicit" when it does come.

On Thursday, while speaking at a press conference in Addis Ababa, he said the message from Pyongyang that would turn talks into negotiations would have to come in person.

"I don't know yet until we are able to meet ourselves face to face with representatives of North Korea whether the conditions are right to even begin thinking about negations," Tillerson said.

President Trump, who has not ruled out meeting with Jim Jong Un himself, has "indicated potentially positive signals" coming out of the intra-Korean dialogue, explained Tillerson. Mr. Trump has enthusiastically pressed that progress with North Korea is closer than it has been in the past.

"Possible progress being made in talks with North Korea. For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned. The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!," the president tweeted earlier this week.

Tillerson will not be present when South Korean officials brief the Trump administration on their talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un earlier this week. Instead, Tillerson will carry on with his five-country trip in Africa.

The State Department's top official for North Korean relations, Joe Yun, retired last week. He told CBS News that there were no policy differences "per se" between himself and the White House. Yet his departure came at a time when State Department officials continue to feel their expertise is being sidelined by the White House. There has been no announcement of Yun's replacement.

"We need to get it right. We need to make sure if there are talks it will lead to denuclearization. We need a whole-of-government approach," Yun told CBS News when discussing the policy approach to North Korea.

"Me. No. Nobody got that," Mr. Trump joked earlier this week when asked about the reason for North Korea's openness to talks. He added that the North Koreans appeared sincere in their efforts for talks due to aggressive sanctions, and credited the "great help we've been given from China."</s>DJIBOUTI — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson drew a distinction Friday between “talks” with North Korea and “negotiations,” arguing that President Donald Trump’s willingness to chat with Kim Jong Un shouldn’t be construed as anything more than that.

The stunning announcement that Trump had agreed to a meeting with the North Korean leader raised questions about what had changed after months of Tillerson and other Trump officials insisting the conditions weren’t right for negotiations with Pyongyang. Tillerson said that Trump has been open to mere talks and a meeting with Kim “for some time,” and had decided on Thursday that “the time was right.”

“In the president’s judgment, that time has arrived now,” Tillerson told reporters in Djibouti during a trip to Africa.

Tillerson did not define the precise difference between talks and negotiations, and it was unclear what there was for the two countries — still technically at war — would have to discuss if not a deal to address concerns about the North’s nuclear weapons program. Ostensibly, they could hold preliminary conversations to see if there’s enough common ground and good will to proceed to formal negotiations.

Explaining Trump’s decision-making about the meeting, Tillerson said that the U.S. had witnessed a shift from North Korea that became apparent when a South Korean delegation visited Pyongyang, then travelled to Washington to brief U.S. officials on the rare meeting. He said the dispatch from that meeting “was the most forward-leaning report that we’ve had, in terms of Kim Jong Un’s not just willingness but his strong desire for talks.

“What changed was his posture in a fairly dramatic way,” Tillerson said. “In all honesty, that came as a little bit of a surprise to us as well.”

As Trump’s administration ramped up its “maximum pressure campaign” on North Korea over the last year, Tillerson was one of the more enthusiastic advocates within the Cabinet for trying to talk to the North Koreans, even as other officials warned Trump of the risks of rewarding Kim too soon. For months the administration gave mixed messages about just what “preconditions” — if any — needed to be met to merit talks.

Ultimately, Trump decided that Kim’s willingness to discuss denuclearization and commit to halt testing was enough. Tillerson said the decision to agree to the meeting was “a decision the president took himself.”

“This is something he’s had on his mind for quite some time,” Tillerson said. “So now I think it’s a question of agreeing on the timing of that first meeting between the two of them and a location and that will take some weeks before we get all that worked out.”</s>Washington’s top diplomat Rex Tillerson today said the United States was “a long way from negotiations” with North Korea, which this week made a shock offer to discuss denuclearisation. Tillerson, who is in Ethiopia on his first-ever Africa tour, said the signals from Pyongyang may be positive but stressed negotiations with Kim Jong Un’s regime were not going to happen soon. “I think as President Trump has indicated, (there are) potentially positive signals coming from North Korea by way of their intra-Korean dialogue with South Korea,” he told journalists.

But “in terms of direct talks… we’re a long way from negotiations, we just need to be very clear-eyed and realistic about it,” he said. He said a first step would be “talks about talks” to see if “conditions are right to even begin thinking about negotiations.” Details are still sketchy, but South Korea announced Tuesday that the North had stated there was “no reason” to hold on to its nuclear weapons “if military threats towards the North are cleared and the security of its regime is guaranteed”. The North is open to “frank” talks with the United States on denuclearisation and would suspend missile and nuclear tests while dialogue was underway, the South’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong said after returning from a meeting in Pyongyang with Kim.

President Donald Trump welcomed the offer as “very positive”. However his Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told Congress he was “quite sceptical” and Vice President Mike Pence said the US position towards North Korea would not change “until we see credible, verifiable, and concrete steps toward denuclearization.”

China today urged the United States and North Korea to start negotiations as soon as possible, while Japan has warned it could be a ploy to play for time and urged “concrete” steps from Pyongyang.</s>Addis Ababa (AFP) - Washington's top diplomat Rex Tillerson said Thursday the United States was "a long way from negotiations" with North Korea, which this week made a shock offer to discuss denuclearisation.

Tillerson, who is in Ethiopia on his first-ever Africa tour, said the signals from Pyongyang may be positive but stressed negotiations with Kim Jong Un's regime were not going to happen soon.

"I think as President Trump has indicated, (there are) potentially positive signals coming from North Korea by way of their intra-Korean dialogue with South Korea," he told journalists.

But "in terms of direct talks... we're a long way from negotiations, we just need to be very clear-eyed and realistic about it," he said.

He said a first step would be "talks about talks" to see if "conditions are right to even begin thinking about negotiations."

Details are still sketchy, but South Korea announced Tuesday that the North had stated there was "no reason" to hold on to its nuclear weapons "if military threats towards the North are cleared and the security of its regime is guaranteed".

The North is open to "frank" talks with the United States on denuclearisation and would suspend missile and nuclear tests while dialogue was under way, the South's national security adviser Chung Eui-yong said after returning from a meeting in Pyongyang with Kim.

President Donald Trump welcomed the offer as "very positive".

However his Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told Congress he was "quite skeptical" and Vice President Mike Pence said the US position towards North Korea would not change "until we see credible, verifiable, and concrete steps toward denuclearisation."

China on Thursday urged the United States and North Korea to start negotiations as soon as possible, while Japan has warned it could be a ploy to play for time, and urged "concrete" steps from Pyongyang.</s>BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Friday that it welcomes positive signals from the United States and North Korea, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was prepared to meet North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comment at a regular news briefing. 

 

 (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Writing by Michael Martina; Editing by Nick Macfie)</s>ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday that the U.S. is receiving “potentially positive signals” from North Korea, but that the two countries are still "a long way" from direct negotiations about Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Speaking alongside Ethiopia's foreign minister during a press conference in Addis Ababa, Tillerson said: “I think as President Trump has indicated, there are potentially positive signals coming from North Korea by way of their intra-Korean dialogue.”

"In terms of direct talks with the United States... we're a long way from negotiations," said Tillerson, who cautioned that the first step should be "talks about talks."

"We just need to be very clear-eyed and realistic about it," he added.

Tillerson’s comments come after the South Korean president’s office said on Wednesday that the North “clearly stated” it is willing to hold talks on denuclearization with the U.S. Following a meeting between Kim Jong Un and envoys from Seoul on Monday, the South Korean representatives said the North would suspend nuclear tests while any talks were underway.

South Korea’s presidential national security director Chung Eui-yong also revealed that the rival neighbors had agreed to hold a landmark third summit meeting between Kim and South Korea’s president at a border village next month.

Tweeting on Tuesday about the intra-Korean talks, President Donald Trump lauded the “possible progress.”

“For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned. The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!” he added.

Secretary Tillerson will still be in Africa when the South Koreans brief the U.S. in more detail about their conversations with the North Koreans later this week. The White House will be assembling the team but it is unclear who will be attending from the State Department.

The administration still has not nominated an Ambassador to South Korea, with career diplomat Susan Thornton remaining in the position of acting Assistant Secretary for East Asia as she awaits confirmation. The U.S. envoy for North Korea policy Joseph Yun, who was the chief negotiator, quit last week. The State Department has yet to name a replacement.

During Thursday's press conference Tillerson also said that African countries should be careful not to forfeit their sovereignty when they accept loans from China, the continent's biggest trading partner.

Trump's Secretary of State is using his first diplomatic trip to Africa to bolster security alliances on a continent increasingly turning to Beijing for aid and trade.

The U.S. is the leading aid donor to Africa but China surpassed it as a trade partner in 2009.

Tillerson also dismissed reports he had rejected a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov while they are both in Africa as “silly.”

“If it doesn't work out here, he and I see each other often around the world and we have each other's telephone numbers and we do use them," he said.

Tillerson’s Africa visit comes just months after Trump described African nations as “shithole countries” during a White House meeting.</s>WASHINGTON — South Korean officials are to brief the White House Thursday on the outcome of their pathfinding meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a U.S. official said.

Seoul has reported that North Korea offered talks with the United States on denuclearization and normalizing ties, a potential diplomatic opening after a year of escalating tensions over the North’s nuclear and missile tests. The rival Koreas also agreed to hold a leadership summit in late April.

Top Trump administration officials get a chance to hear firsthand from South Korean national security director, Chung Eui-yong, who led the delegation that went to Pyongyang.

Chung will meet Thursday afternoon with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and brief other senior U.S. government officials. That’s according to a National Security Council spokesman who was not authorized to speak publicly about the meeting and requested anonymity.

Chung told reporters on Tuesday that he received a message from North Korea intended for the United States, but didn’t disclose what it was.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday in Ethiopia that the U.S. has seen “potentially positive signals” from North Korea, but the adversaries are still a long way from holding negotiations.</s>DJIBOUTI (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson drew a distinction Friday between “talks” with North Korea and “negotiations,” arguing that President Donald Trump’s willingness to chat with Kim Jong Un shouldn’t be construed as anything more than that.

The stunning announcement that Trump had agreed to a meeting with the North Korean leader raised questions about what had changed after months of Tillerson and other Trump officials insisting the conditions weren’t right for negotiations with Pyongyang. Tillerson said that Trump has been open to mere talks and a meeting with Kim “for some time,” and had decided on Thursday that “the time was right.”

“In the president’s judgment, that time has arrived now,” Tillerson told reporters in Djibouti during a trip to Africa.

Tillerson did not define the precise difference between talks and negotiations, and it was unclear what there was for the two countries — still technically at war — would have to discuss if not a deal to address concerns about the North’s nuclear weapons program. Ostensibly, they could hold preliminary conversations to see if there’s enough common ground and good will to proceed to formal negotiations.

Explaining Trump’s decision-making about the meeting, Tillerson said that the U.S. had witnessed a shift from North Korea that became apparent when a South Korean delegation visited Pyongyang, then traveled to Washington to brief U.S. officials on the rare meeting. He said the dispatch from that meeting “was the most forward-leaning report that we’ve had, in terms of Kim Jong Un’s not just willingness but his strong desire for talks.

“What changed was his posture in a fairly dramatic way,” Tillerson said. “In all honesty, that came as a little bit of a surprise to us as well.”

As Trump’s administration ramped up its “maximum pressure campaign” on North Korea over the last year, Tillerson was one of the more enthusiastic advocates within the Cabinet for trying to talk to the North Koreans, even as other officials warned Trump of the risks of rewarding Kim too soon. For months the administration gave mixed messages about just what “preconditions” — if any — needed to be met to merit talks.

Ultimately, Trump decided that Kim’s willingness to discuss denuclearization and commit to halt testing was enough. Tillerson said the decision to agree to the meeting was “a decision the president took himself.”

“This is something he’s had on his mind for quite some time,” Tillerson said. “So now I think it’s a question of agreeing on the timing of that first meeting between the two of them and a location and that will take some weeks before we get all that worked out.”</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — South Korean officials were briefing the White House Thursday on the outcome of their pathfinding meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Seoul has already publicized that North Korea offered talks with the United States on denuclearization and normalizing ties, a potential diplomatic opening after a year of escalating tensions over the North's nuclear and missile tests. The rival Koreas also agreed to hold a leadership summit in late April.

Top Trump administration officials were getting a chance to hear firsthand from South Korean national security director, Chung Eui-yong, who led the delegation that went to Pyongyang.

Chung was to meet Thursday with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and brief other senior U.S. government officials. That's according to a National Security Council spokesman who was not authorized to speak publicly about the meeting and requested anonymity.

Chung told reporters on Tuesday that he received a message from North Korea intended for the United States, but didn't disclose what it was.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday in Ethiopia that the U.S. has seen "potentially positive signals" from North Korea, but the adversaries are still a long way from holding negotiations.</s>Djibouti :Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday said Washington had been surprised by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s willingness to hold direct talks with the US on the nuclear standoff in the Korean peninsula. “What changed was his posture in a fairly dramatic way,” Tillerson said in Djibouti during a five-nation Africa tour. “In all honesty, that came as a little bit of a surprise to us, as well that he was so forward-leaning in his conversations with the delegation from South Korea.” Tillerson’s comments came after President Trump agreed to a historic meeting with Kim, the first ever between a US president and a North Korean leader. The meeting is due to take place by the end of May. News of the summit, which South Korean President Moon Jae-in said was “like a miracle”, is the latest step in a quickening detente after a period of heightened rhetoric and extreme tension between Washington and Pyongyang. Just hours before the summit announcement, Tillerson had said that the United States was “a long way” from talking directly to North Korea. “In terms of direct talks… we’re a long way from negotiations, we just need to be very clear-eyed and realistic about it,” Tillerson had said in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Thursday.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says "potentially positive signals" come from North Korea, but that the two countries are "still a long way" from direct negotiations.