In meetings at the State Department involving US and Chinese diplomats and defense chiefs, North Korea was to get "top billing", according to Susan Thornton, the senior USA diplomat for East Asia. The regime is responsible for several devastating cyber attacks (recently, North Korean hackers paralyzed the United Kingdom's National Health Service, as well as industries in 150 other countries), and Kim Jong-un successfully had an estranged member of the family assassinated in Kuala Lumpur in February, in broad daylight.
The discussions replace a strategic and economic dialogue held annually under the Obama administration. It rarely produced significant results.
North Korea topped the agenda at the Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, which paired Tillerson and Mattis with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of joint staff of the People's Liberation Army.
Given how ardently the U.S. had sought the cooperation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump upended much of that work in 140 characters, tweeting that Chinese efforts have "not worked out". Divisive trade issues will be tackled separately at a later date.
Chang, an Asian policy analyst, calls Warmbier's death "state-sanctioned murder" that must affect US policy toward both the Kim regime and its "enablers, most notably China". "At least I know China tried", Trump wrote.
FILE- In this June 15, 2017, file photo, Fred Warmbier, father of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia undergraduate student who was imprisoned in North Korea in March 2016, speaks during a news conference at Wyoming.
Wambier's parents cited "awful, torturous mistreatment" by North Korea. On Tuesday, the US flew two supersonic B-1B bombers there in a show of force.
In response to the tragedy, USA officials have reportedly been considering a travel ban that would prohibit American citizens from visiting the country until further notice. Three Americans remain detained in North Korea.
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says China has a responsibility to exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to prevent an escalation of tensions in the region. Such talks are a seemingly distant goal since Kim is believed to see his weapons of mass destruction as a guarantee against invasion.
This week, USA spy satellites showed signs of activity at North Korea underground nuclear test site.
It is "important to send out a message to North Korea that if it decides to denuclearize and to come to the negotiating table, then we are willing to assist them", Moon said.
Warmbier had planned to study in China during his third year of college and had heard about travel companies offering trips to North Korea.
Warmbier's death is "an outrage even by North Korean standards", said John Delury, an associate professor of Chinese studies at Yonsei University in Seoul.
An op-ed published by state-run Chinese newspaper Global Times pushed back on Trump's tweet, saying "The US always blames China for not doing enough when Washington is at a loss over the North Korean nuclear issue".
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the American people are growing increasingly frustrated over the government in North Korea that "provokes, provokes and provokes". Such a move risks fraying relations between the world's two biggest economies.
If Washington imposes sanctions on Chinese enterprises, it would lead to "grave friction" between the two countries, said the paper, which does not represent Chinese government policy.
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