US-N Korea talk on nuclear programme: Tillerson

Bloomberg

The US is communicating with North Korea about its nuclear programme and testing Pyongyang’s appetite for negotiations, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in the first public acknowledgment by a senior administration official of direct contact on the matter.
Tillerson, speaking to reporters on Saturday after meeting Chinese officials in Beijing, insisted that the US would never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea. His remarks offered the clearest glimpse so far into US strategy, and suggested a willingness to get to the negotiating table with Kim Jong Un’s regime— even after President Donald Trump tweeted in August that “talking is not the answer!”
“We are probing, so stay tuned,” Tillerson said. “We can talk to them, we do talk to them directly, through our own channels,” adding that the US has “a couple, three channels open to Pyongyang.”
The US doesn’t have an embassy in North Korea and often relays messages to the regime through the embassy of Sweden. Joseph Yun, Tillerson’s special representative for North Korea policy, has communicated privately with North Korea, often through Pyongyang’s mission to the United Nations in New York, but the exchanges were generally believed to be limited to the issue of detained Americans.
North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on September 3, and has launched more than a dozen missiles this year as Kim seeks the capability to hit the continental US with an atomic weapon. The UN has imposed stringent sanctions on North Korea for its weapons tests, and Trump has said all options are on the table.
North Korea has also threatened in recent days to conduct an atmospheric nuclear test. Asked if such a test would be a “red line” for the US and its military, Tillerson responded: “That will be the commander in chief’s decision—as far as I know, the commander in chief has delivered no red lines.”
The war of words has escalated between the two leaders in recent weeks, with Trump labeling Kim “Rocket Man,” and saying in his first speech to the UN that the US would “totally destroy” North Korea if it attacks. Kim responded by calling Trump a “dotard” and warning of the “highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history.”
In a mild rebuke to Trump, Tillerson said the most important thing at this point is to ease the rhetoric and tension on the peninsula, because the situation is “a little overheated right now.” Asked if Trump should tone down his comments, Tillerson didn’t answer directly.
“The whole situation is a bit overheated right now,” he said. “Everyone would like for it to calm down. Obviously it would help for North Korea to stop firing off missiles. That would calm things down a lot.” Tillerson’s remarks followed meetings in Beijing with President Xi Jinping and China’s foreign policy officials, Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi, for Trump’s visit in November.