US President Donald Trump today said that talks with North Korea have not worked for 25 years and is "only one thing will work" when it comes to dealing with Pyongyang. Trump did elaborate on what he meant by "only one thing". Amid threats by North Korea in a last few months, Trump has often emphasised on the need of a military solution saying talks with the North Korean regime is futile.
"Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!" Trump said in a series of tweets.
When asked to clarify, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that all options are still on the table and she had nothing further to add at this time.
Tensions ran high on the Korean Peninsula as North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on September 3.
In response, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a new resolution tightening sanctions against Pyongyang. Later, North Korea tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile which flew over Japan.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson revealed during a visit to China in late September that the US has direct channels of communication with North Korea.
"We have lines of communications to Pyongyang. We're not in a dark situation or a blackout. We have a couple of direct channels to Pyongyang. We can talk to them ... We've made it clear that we hope to resolve this through talks," Tillerson said.
On October 1, Trump tweeted undermined Tillerson saying that he was wasting his time trying to negotiate with Kim Jong Un, whom he referred as "Little Rocket Man".
"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, we'll do what has to be done!" he said.
