US in contact with N. Korea, probing willingness to talk: Tillerson

The United States opened channels of communication with North Korea and is investigating whether the regime is ready to enter talks on giving up its nuclear weapons programme, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Saturday.

"We are probing, so stay tuned," he told reporters after talks with Chinese officials in Beijing. "We ask. We have lines of communication with Pyongyang. We're not in a dark situation, a blackout, we have a couple, three channels open to Pyongyang." "We can talk to them, we do talk to them," he said.

Asked whether China was acting as a go-between for the contacts, Tillerson said: "Our own channels." Tillerson spoke after an afternoon of talks with China's top diplomats and President Xi Jinping centred on the nuclear crisis and preparations for Trump's visit to Beijing in November.

UCJ, UNILORIN.