other provacative behavior, missile development and support of militant groups like lib ban these hezbollah. secretary tillerson also touched on north korea saying president trump still supports a diplomatically led of fort there despite recent tweets saying direct negotiations with a waste of time. it will continue until the first bombs are dropped. i think he does want to be clear with kim jong-un in that regime that he has plil h. military preparations read to go. we have spend substantial time perfecting those. be clear the president has made clear to me he wants this solved diplomatically. he s not seeking to go to war. he has made it clear to me to continue the diplomatic efforts which we are, and as i told others, those diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops. it remains to see what
capable of reaching the east coast of the u.s. a capability the kim regime has been working furiously to perfect, including a recent test firing. it is a high risk option for north korea to pursue. we don t know yet what the dynamic will unveil. but this pressure could tip toward diplomacy and a diplomatic opening or it could tip toward some esclatory action, reaction cycle. reporter: neither north korean officials nor u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson are ruling diplomacy out, but in an interview with jake taper, he seemed to warn those might fail. those will continue until the first bomb drops. military tensions on the korean peninsula are once again ramping up tonight. an american aircraft carrier strike group along with a submarine have launched joint naval exercises with south korea near the border with north
washington. these are the destructive games of this town. they are not helpful to anyone. so my position on it is i m not playing. i m not playing. if you want to make a game out of it, i m not playing. it s not a game. it s important for those of us in washington to understand are the secretary of state and the president on the same page. do they like each other. you will notice no denial. he insists the relationship is solid and effective, but frequent tweets do raise doubts about whether he truly speaks for the president. that is problematic in that job with allies and enemies have to interpret comments like these. he made it clear to continue my diplomatic efforts that will continue until the first bomb drops. oh. exactly.
let s listen to the secretary of state in a rare interview, sitting down with cnn, talking about how he is continuing to push diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy, despite what the president says or tweets. listen to this. he has made it clear to me to continue my diplomatic efforts, which we are, and we will as i ve told others, those diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops. remember, the president has tweeted that tillerson save your energy. wasting his time with diplomacy. so mixed message. totally mixed message. but it s not just the nuclear threat. you guys found a whole lot more in this investigation, david. well, we did. and i think what you re hearing from secretary tillerson there is an effort that he, secretary of defense mattis, the national security adviser, hr mcmaster, are pursuing, which is to say that to hold an alliance together, if you ve actually got to get into a confrontation with north korea, you ve got to show that you ve done eve
you don t want to say anything about the senator calling suggesting you have been gelded before the world and it s not anything that bothers you? i checked. i m fully intact. karoun, for me, that answer works. what do you think the optics are? he s only out there because he s told to be out there and told to be showing an unified property. this is a little bit odd. i feel for you, karoun. it is tough material. he is trying to put a lid on everything. they are trying to show some unity here. of course tillerson doesn t want to out and out lie. people have reported what he said. so he is not denying it. he is deflecting attention. everything he is saying about diplomacy until the first bomb