It Is Reported Tillerson Was Not Told About Meeting With Kim Until After Announcement

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said today during his Africa trip that he spoke with President Trump on his decision to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un after it was announced by South Korean officials and the administration.

Speaking in Djibouti alongside Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, Tillerson was asked about his months-long public position that the time was not right for sitting down with North Korea.

Trump tweeted in October, “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man. Save your energy Rex.”

“What changed in the last 24 hours that gave the Trump administration confidence that now is the right time?” a reporter asked Tillerson today. “Can you explain the logic behind starting this process?”

“With respect to talks with North Korea versus negotiations — and I think this seems to be something that people continue to struggle with the difference,” Tillerson replied. “My comments have been that we’re — the conditions are not right for negotiations, but we’ve been saying for some time we are open to talks. President Trump has said for some time that he was open to talks and he would willingly meet with Kim Jong-un when conditions were right and the time was right. And I think in the president’s judgment, that time has arrived now.”

“In terms of the decision to engage between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, that’s a decision the president took himself,” he added. “I spoke to him very early this morning about that decision and we had a good conversation. This is something that he’s had on his mind for quite some time, so it was not a surprise in any way, because I think this has long been something. He’s expressed it openly before about his willingness to meet with Kim Jong-un.”

Tillerson said that now it’s “a question of agreeing on a 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.”

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Source: PJ Media