Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made his second trip out of the country, heading to South Korea for meetings about the situation in North Korea. At a press conference, Tillerson made an extremely troubling statement, rattling the full sabres of the United States:
“Let me be very clear: the policy of strategic patience has ended. We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security, economic measures. All options are on the table.”
You can read more about Tillerson’s threat here, but that statement is being reported by The Korea Herald because Rex Tillerson only allowed one reporter to make the trip to South Korea, a reporter from the conservative IJR. Nevertheless, The Korea Herald also dropped in this nugget of information:
A joint news conference aside, Tillerson spent almost 2 1/2 hours with Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida including a dinner, and another hour with Prime Minister Abe. But his meetings with Yun and Hwang were each confined to about an hour, without a lunch or dinner gathering. Seoul officials said the US side opted not to have a meal together, citing the secretary’s “fatigue.”
Fatigue? On his second trip as the Secretary of State? Sitting out critical meetings with foreign leaders? Such low energy. No stamina.
You know who traveled more than any other Secretary of State in history and never once complained? Hillary Freaking Clinton. Because she persisted. Look at her remarkable travel as Secretary of State:
• Total miles traveled: 956,733
• Which equates to this many times traveled around the circumference of the world: 38.42
• Total travel time, in hours: 2,084.21
• Total travel time, in days: 86.8
• Days of travel, in all: 401
• Which works out to: 1.099 years
Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone.