U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks to reporters after a high level Security Council meeting on the situation in North Korea, Friday, Dec. 15, 2017, at United Nations headquarters.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks to reporters after a high level Security Council meeting on the situation in North Korea, Friday, Dec. 15, 2017, at United Nations headquarters.
Photo Credit: Mary Altaffer

Rex Tillerson to visit Ottawa for North Korea crisis talks

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will arrive in Ottawa on his first official visit to Canada next Tuesday for meetings with the Liberal government to discuss the North Korea crisis and “important bilateral, regional and global issues,” Global Affairs Canada said Friday.

Tillerson will be hosted by his Canadian counterpart, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland. While in Ottawa on Dec. 19, Tillerson will also meet with the Cabinet Committee on Canada-United States Relations to discuss the two countries’ important security, trade and economic relationship, Freeland said.

“I look forward to welcoming Secretary Tillerson to Ottawa next week for his first official visit to Canada as secretary of state,” Freeland said in a statement. “His visit is an opportunity to discuss issues of importance to Canadians and Americans and to strengthen our collaboration in addressing regional and global issues.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. © PC/Justin Tang

There was no confirmation, however, of earlier reports of a meeting between Tillerson and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau’s spokesman Eleanore Catenaro refused to comment on the information.

However, a source speaking on background said officials in Trudeau’s office still have to work out “some scheduling issues” before making an official announcement on the meeting between Tillerson and Trudeau.

Last week, the U.S. ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, told the Fortune Global Forum, a gathering of the world’s business elites in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou attended by Trudeau, that a meeting between the Canadian prime minister and Tillerson had been scheduled for Dec. 19.

This Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, image provided by the North Korean government on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, shows what the North Korean government calls the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, at an undisclosed location in North Korea.
This Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, image provided by the North Korean government on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, shows what the North Korean government calls the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. © Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

Following Pyongyang’s latest ballistic missile launch last month, Freeland announced that Ottawa and Washington would co-host an international crisis meeting of foreign ministers in Canada to discuss North Korea.

Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs present a direct threat to the world, a threat that “cannot be tolerated,” Freeland said. The meeting is expected to take place early next year.

Canada, which would be on the flight path of any North Korean missiles aimed at the United States but is not part of the U.S. ballistic missile defence, is very concerned about the possibility of a nuclear exchange between Washington and Pyongyang.

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