“Failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences. The more we bide our time, the sooner we will run out of it.” Rex Tillerson calls for more sanctions, and leaves open the option for direct talks, in a UN speech on North Korea.

+ Meanwhile, people in South Korea aren’t sure what to make of the comments they’re hearing from President Trump. (Join the club.)

+ “Mr. Trump’s negotiating strategy has often involved the taking of an extreme position, hoping that the other actor in a test of wills will be thrown off enough to move in his direction. That is one thing when it means threatening to pull out of Nafta, the gambit Mr. Trump floated, then retreated from, this week. But it can be a far riskier bet when exchanging signals with Mr. Kim, who has survived so far — like his father and grandfather before him — by employing a similar playbook of extreme rhetoric, often followed by acts of violence.” David Sanger in the NYT: Trump on North Korea: Tactic? ‘Madman Theory’? Or Just Mixed Messages?