--- title: North Korea Missile Test: Rex Tillerson Says 'No Comment' description: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. has nothing more to say publicly about North Korea, which just launched another missile test canonical: https://time.com/4726105/tillerson-north-korea-missile-no-comment/ author: Feliz Solomon article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-05T02:35:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:12:51.925Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rex Tillerson Has 'No Comment' on North Korea Missile Test og:description: Pyongyang has launched yet another missile into the Sea of Japan og:url: https://time.com/4726105/tillerson-north-korea-missile-no-comment/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15e533d2ae114eee/6988c15ebc6cfc215b3e0bfb/gettyimages-661502732.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2847 og:image:height: 1601 og:image:alt: BELGIUM-NATO-FOREIGN-MINISTERS-MEETINGS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rex Tillerson Has 'No Comment' on North Korea Missile Test twitter:description: Pyongyang has launched yet another missile into the Sea of Japan twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15e533d2ae114eee/6988c15ebc6cfc215b3e0bfb/gettyimages-661502732.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rex Tillerson Offers 'No Comment' on North Korea Missile Launch > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=5da7126a-83b3-4343-ae37-ea1169207a4f&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Feliz Solomon](https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Apr 5, 2017 2:35 AM UTC  U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Brussels on March 31, 2017. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Brussels on March 31, 2017. Emmanuel Dunand—AFP/Getty Images by [Feliz Solomon](https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Apr 5, 2017 2:35 AM UTC Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that the U.S. has [nothing further to say](https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2017/04/269465.htm) publicly about North Korea, after the country conducted the latest in a series of missile tests as President Donald Trump prepares to meet for the first time with his Chinese counterpart. “North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile,” read a statement by Tillerson released by the State Department. “The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment.” South Korean officials said North Korea had [fired a ballistic missile](http://time.com/4726060/north-korea-ballistic-missile-fire-sea-of-japan/) into the waters off the country’s eastern coast Wednesday morning local time. The U.S. said that initial assessments indicated it was a KN-15 medium-range ballistic missile that flew about 37 miles from its origin in the town of Sinpo and descended in the Sea of Japan, the Associated Press reports. **_Read more:_**[_Style and Substance Are Both Concerns When China’s Xi Jinping Meets President Trump_](http://time.com/4722468/china-xi-jinping-donald-trump-florida-mar-a-lago-north-korea/) Tuesday’s test marked the latest escalation in the North Korean nuclear threat; Pyongyang has conducted several missile tests since the start of the year. Meanwhile, Trump is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two are expected to [discuss cooperation](http://time.com/4722468/china-xi-jinping-donald-trump-florida-mar-a-lago-north-korea/) toward defusing the threat of a nuclear North Korea. In an interview with the _Financial Times_ published Sunday, Trump said he [planned to negotiate ](http://time.com/4722440/trump-xi-china-north-korea-nuclear-threat/)with Xi for further cooperation, likely using trade and the threat of sanctions to coax China into helping the U.S. Beijing is wary, however, of America’s [deployment](http://time.com/4693050/thaad-missile-defense-south-korea/) of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) antimissile system in South Korea, complicating the discussions. **_Read more:_** [_Can North Korea Actually Hit the U.S. With a Nuclear Missile?_](http://time.com/4694840/north-korea-nuclear-missile-america/) Trump [warned](http://time.com/4722440/trump-xi-china-north-korea-nuclear-threat/) that if he cannot secure assistance from Beijing, the U.S. was prepared to handle North Korea on its own, though he declined to detail any specific actions Washington might take against Pyongyang. During his first diplomatic visits to both Seoul and Beijing in March, [Tillerson stressed](http://time.com/4706038/rex-tillerson-china-us-north-korea/) that “the policy of strategic patience has ended,” suggesting that the U.S. could consider a range of responses to North Korean aggression, including a possible preemptive strike. “We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security and economic measures,” Tillerson said. “All options are on the table.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4726105/tillerson-north-korea-missile-no-comment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4726105/tillerson-north-korea-missile-no-comment/"},"headline":"Rex Tillerson Offers 'No Comment' on North Korea Missile Launch","datePublished":"2017-04-05T02:35:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:12:51.925Z","description":"“The United States has spoken enough about North Korea\"","url":"https://time.com/4726105/tillerson-north-korea-missile-no-comment/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","North Korea","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15e533d2ae114eee/6988c15ebc6cfc215b3e0bfb/gettyimages-661502732.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Feliz Solomon","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15e533d2ae114eee/6988c15ebc6cfc215b3e0bfb/gettyimages-661502732.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BELGIUM-NATO-FOREIGN-MINISTERS-MEETINGS","caption":"BELGIUM-NATO-FOREIGN-MINISTERS-MEETINGS","creditText":"Emmanuel Dunand—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4726105/tillerson-north-korea-missile-no-comment/","name":"Rex Tillerson Offers 'No Comment' on North Korea Missile Launch"}}]}] ```