U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged that the United State is maintaining direct channels of communications with North Korea, reported The Associated Press (AP).  

Tillerson said the U.S. was probing North Korea’s willingness to talk, and called for a calming of the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

“We have lines of communication to Pyongyang,” Tillerson told reporters during a visit to China. “We can talk to them, we do talk to them.”

While Tillerson affirmed that the U.S. would not recognize North Korea as a nuclear power, he also said the President Donald Trump administration had no intention of trying to oust North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un.

“Despite assurances that the United States is not interested in promoting the collapse of the current regime, pursuing regime change, accelerating reunification of the peninsula or mobilizing forces north of the DMZ, North Korean officials have shown no indication that they are interested in or are ready for talks regarding denuclearization,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.