N. Korea & u.S. talking; peace deal?

THE UNITED STATES and North Korea are talking, but that doesn’t mean the two sides will strike a peace deal anytime soon.

Secretary of State Tillerson confirmed Saturday the Trump administration is speaking with strongman Kim Jong Un’s North Korean government.

“We have lines of communications to Pyongyang,” the top diplomat said during a trip to Beijing. “We’re not in a dark situation.”

It’s too soon to tell whether North Korea would be open to some sort of peace deal.

“We are probing, so stay tuned,” Tillerson ) said.

State Department officials later clarified Pyongyang hasn’t signaled it’s open to a deal to shutter its fledging nuclear weapons program.

“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 of the DMZ (demilitarized zone), North Korean officials have shown no indication that they are interested in or are ready for talks regarding denuclearization,” the State Department told ABC News.

Just a week ago Tillerson’s North Korean counterpart claimed his country’s weapons tests — including an intercontinental ballistic missile and a hydrogen bomb — were defense measures against U.S. aggression.

“I think the most immediate action that we need is to calm things down,” Tillerson told reporters.

He declined to say if that meant toning down President Trump’s rhetoric. Trump has referred to the North Korean leader as a “Rocket Man” who was “on a suicide mission.”

Tillerson’s Beijing trip is a bid to put pressure on China to take a tougher stance on North Korea. Beijing has backed away from supporting North Korea, which counts China as its largest trading partner.