Confusion abounds over US policy to North Korea after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was contradicted by the White House over whether there's a military option to strike Pyongyang.
Mr. Tillerson told reporters in Washington that the United States has only "limited options" to deal with North Korea and they don't include military intervention "north of the 38th Parallel".
But at the White House, the President's spokeswoman insisted all options remain on the table, and they're believed to include a possible military strike.
From Washington, Simon Marks reports.
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On Monday, President Trump asserted on Twitter that there is no chaos inside his White House….an administration that he has previously called a "fine-tuned machine"
But there is at least disfunction on display between the White House and the State Department over the crucial issue of North Korea.
With Kim Jon Un now testing ballistic missiles capable of reaching US shores….Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in a rare appearance before reporters at the State Department, appeared to offer an olive branch to Pyongyang.
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He said the US would be willing to engage in talks with the North Korean government…and lest anyone had missed the point, he underscored that the crisis on the Peninsula presents the US with only "limited" choices.
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But over at the White House, just a matter of minutes later, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was singing from a different, and much more aggressive song-sheet.
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She insisted "all options" remain on the table, and refused to be drawn on whether the President is considering - as he's suggested in the past - going it alone militarily against Kim Jong Un.
This administration, she says, will not broadcast the decisions it reaches.
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Adding to the confusion, the testimony of a top Republican Senator who says he spoke to President Trump about North Korea on Monday.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina says the President told him he will go to war with Pyongyang unless the North Koreans abandon their nuclear military aspirations.
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He spoke there to NBC News.
So….either the US has only limited options in North Korea, doesn't seek regime change, and isn't a threat to Kim Jong Un.
Or the President is gearing up to deploy US troops to derail the country's nuclear program.
In earlier administrations, policy analysts might have concluded this is all psychological operation by the White House and the State Department to keep the North Koreans on their toes.
But this looks more like a President not harmonizing his message with his Secretary of State.
Rex Tillerson heads to Manila, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur later this week….where he can expect questions about a US policy towards the Peninsula that is at least opaque.
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