The Pentagon on Tuesday released a statement that U.S. Pacific Command had detected the launch of a single, medium-range ballistic missile by North Korea and tracked its flight until it landed in the Sea of Japan.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson soon after issued a statement so terse that journalists were left debating just what it meant. Is it just a placeholder until a real North Korea policy is in place, or is it flat-out brilliant as-is?
Actual Tillerson statement on North Korea missile launch pic.twitter.com/OV2xsTm0yI
— Yeganeh Torbati (@yjtorbati) April 4, 2017
And that’s it.
Tillerson fed up with latest North Korean provocation. pic.twitter.com/M37xWJctI7
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) April 5, 2017
No one can accuse him of being all talk https://t.co/yu2DdOBWH4
— Rebecca Buck (@RebeccaBuck) April 5, 2017
This is arguably a really good statement. https://t.co/FPSczo0LN5
— Blake News (@blakehounshell) April 5, 2017
Call me crazy, but I kind of like it. https://t.co/KjpX9bHcOq
— Jamie Weinstein (@Jamie_Weinstein) April 5, 2017
It’s a little unorthodox. But it makes its point; it is consistent, policy-wise; and are we to believe another “bad dog” would be useful?
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) April 5, 2017
Uhhhh what does this mean pic.twitter.com/PzRpi6xjVt
— Jessica Schulberg (@jessicaschulb) April 4, 2017
seems like message is North Korea is trying to get attention and US withholding it https://t.co/ztBGc2HBp4
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) April 4, 2017
This is a pretty brilliant response from State to NK launch: "The US has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment." pic.twitter.com/xdsiEa8w1Q
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) April 5, 2017
Point is, attention is like catnip for Kim. This is diplomatic equivalent of ignoring a rowdy teenager.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) April 5, 2017
A whiff of threat methinks https://t.co/Qd0yoqdDc9
— Jonathan Landay (@JonathanLanday) April 5, 2017
The US "has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment." An ominous (?) statement from SecState Tillerson pic.twitter.com/FyKels3I8h
— margaret brennan (@margbrennan) April 5, 2017
As bizarre as this non-response is, I'll take it over some blustery Trump tweetstorm or reckless action. https://t.co/mywlW0bvso
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) April 5, 2017
When you're the Secretary of State and you can't get away with just sending out a press release that says ¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/2NtlMdT6eE
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) April 5, 2017
I had to check my calendar to make sure it wasn't still April Fool's: https://t.co/jI0kgWwOVW
— Melissa Chan (@melissakchan) April 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/jpodhoretz/status/849414954423906304
Somebody should give North Korea a Pepsi.
— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) April 5, 2017
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