Condoleeza Rice Says Rex Tillerson, Not Trump, Deserves Credit for North Korea Talks

In an interview with Fox and Friends Tuesday, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who stepped down from his post in March, deserves credit for North Korea's willingness to come to the negotiating table.

"We really did isolate the North Koreans more successfully this time," Rice told the hosts on Fox and Friends. "And I have to tell you, the former secretary, Tillerson, really does have a lot of credit for that."

President Donald Trump, however, was famously at loggerheads with his former secretary of state, and did not approve of his approach to diplomacy with North Korea. Trump once tweeted, "I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," in reference to hermit kingdom's leader.

Rice's comments were made as some Trump supporters suggest that the president should get the Nobel Peace Prize for fostering peace between North and South Korea. During a rally in Michigan over the weekend, the president was greeted by a crowd who chanted that he should receive the prize. South Korea's President Moon Jae-in later said he agrees that Trump should get the award if peace is restored in the Korean Peninsula for the first time since the Cold War.

On Tuesday, South Korea's Defense Ministry began dismantling loudspeakers that were placed at the border to blast propaganda into North Korea. The move aimed to complete a promise made at a historic summit held Friday between the two Koreas.

Trump has pledged to meet with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the first time as early as next month to discuss an end to the rogue nation's nuclear program. But Rice cast doubt on whether North Korea is serious about fostering peace.

"The North Koreans have a tendency to do this when they're under pressure. They come to the table, they make promises, and then they break those promises," she told the hosts. "But you have to give the administration a lot of credit for having turned up the heat on China, by saying to the Chinese we will defend the United States of America, even if it means using military force."