Win Without War statement on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s recent comments on U.S. policy toward North Korea
Last Updated on March 17, 2017.
WASHINGTON — Win Without War released the following statement in response to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s recent comments on U.S. policy toward North Korea:
We are deeply troubled by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s comments on Friday that the Trump administration will abandon diplomacy with North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, and that the United States will not rule out a pre-emptive military strike against North Korea.
Military force should always be a last resort only after every other option to peacefully resolve a conflict has been thoroughly exhausted. Quite simply, we are nowhere near that point on North Korea. Rather than rattling our nation’s sabres and threatening a war that could cost millions of lives, America’s chief diplomat should be doing his job, diplomacy.
Disturbingly, Secretary Tillerson’s comments on North Korea came on the heels of his absurd claim earlier this week that the agency that he himself leads — the State Department — is overfunded. The reality is that our nation’s diplomatic and aid efforts around the world are vastly underfunded. Reducing these budgets further puts the security of the United States and its allies at risk and only serves to create an overreliance on military solutions to pressing challenges around the world.
Secretary Tillerson’s reckless comments threatening war against North Korea while simultaneously supporting the Trump administration’s plans to gut the State Department are simply too dangerous to leave unchallenged. While Secretary Tillerson may wish he was leading the Defense Department, he is in fact America’s chief diplomat. It’s time he start acting like one and work to build peace rather than threatening to make war.
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For further comment or questions, please contact Stephen Miles, Win Without War’s Director, at Stephen@winwithoutwar.org or 504-289-3594, or Ben Armbruster, Communications Director of the Global Progressive Hub, at barmbruster@globalprogressivehub.org or 202-247-7133.