Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Monday that the Trump administration seeks to leverage sanctions to change North Korea's trajectory and improve the lives of its citizens.
Tillerson, speaking at a White House press briefing, was answering a question about how he is balancing the impact of sanctions on North Korea with concern for the country's people. The secretary of state said the North Korean people already live in extreme deprivation, and sanctioning the Kim Jong Un regime is a tactic to change the country’s trajectory.
"It is always a difficult choice you make when you impose sanctions, in terms of who will really bear the burden here," Tillerson answered. "The truth of the matter is the people of North Korea already live under enormously difficult conditions, and I think what we're focused on is a mission that's going to change North Korea's trajectory– change their path."
Tillerson went on to say the regime must reverse its nuclear ambitions and move toward liberal economic relations with the rest of the world in order to help North Koreans’ plight.
"That's the best way we can help the North Korean people in the future. [It] is to have Kim Jong Un reverse his nuclear weapons program and allow us and the rest of the world to engage with them in economic activity that will ultimately provide a better life for his people," he said.
Tillerson also noted that the Trump administration is not putting the brakes on diplomatic solutions to growing tension with North Korea.
"Do you believe the United States is running out of diplomatic options to respond to the nuclear threat of North Korea?" Trey Yingst of One America News asked.
"No, I do not," Tillerson replied.
The secretary of state has maintained the importance of diplomacy, even though Trump has previously sent some mixed messages about that matter. The president tweeted in October that Tillerson was "wasting his time" on diplomacy with Kim, whom Trump called "Little Rocket Man."