The Trump administration has reportedly used a secret North Korea strategy directive since March


President Trump in March signed a directive to guide U.S. strategy toward North Korea,The Washington Post reported Saturday evening, a document that called for "actions across a broad spectrum of government agencies and led to the use of military cyber-capabilities" to discourage Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. The directive was not made public at the time as it could make U.S.-North Korea talks less likely.
The Post report cites multiple unnamed administration officials who told the paper the directive requires diplomats to mention North Korea "in virtually every conversation with foreign interlocutors," persistently asking other nations to sever all ties to the isolated state. In one case, Vice President Mike Pence informed foreign officials, to their surprise, that their nation has $2 million in trade with North Korea. The directive also led to U.S. Cyber Command working to limit North Korean hackers' internet access.
This news comes just hours after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Saturday said the U.S. is in the early stages of direct communication with North Korea and urged mutual "calm" in an "overheated" situation.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Political cartoons for October 21
Cartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include a high-profile theft, Epstein files keeping Donald Trump up at night, Halloween costumes and scary GOP stories
-
Five things we learnt from Virginia Giuffre’s memoir
The Explainer Nobody’s Girl recounts ‘harrowing’ details of Giuffre’s suffering as a teenage victim of Jeffrey Epstein and his circle
-
Prince Andrew: a timeline of disgraced royal’s Epstein scandal
In Depth How the Queen’s favourite child went from Falklands War hero to public pariah
-
Millions turn out for anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ rallies
Speed Read An estimated 7 million people participated, 2 million more than at the first ‘No Kings’ protest in June
-
DOJ indicts John Bolton over classified files
Speed Read Continuing the trend of going after his political enemies, Trump prosecutes his former national security adviser
-
Trump, Putin set summit as Zelenskyy lands in DC
Speed Read Trump and Putin have agreed to meet in Budapest soon to discuss ending the war in Ukraine
-
Courts deal setbacks to Trump’s Chicago operations
Speed Read President Donald Trump cannot deploy the National Guard in Illinois
-
Pentagon reporters turn in badges after refusing rules
Speed Read They refused to sign a restrictive new press policy imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
-
Supreme Court points to gutting Voting Rights Act
speed read States would no longer be required to consider race when drawing congressional maps
-
Trump says he authorized covert CIA ops in Venezuela
Speed Read He is also considering military strikes inside the country
-
‘Vile, racist’ leaked chats roil Young Republicans
Speed Read Leaders of Young Republican groups made racist, antisemitic and violent comments in private chats