Tillerson says U.S. willing to talk to North Korea without pre-condition

Tillerson says U.S. willing to talk to North Korea without pre-condition | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday that the United States was willing to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, appearing to back away from U.S. demands that Pyongyang first accept that any negotiations would have to be based on North Korean disarmament. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivers remarks on the U.S.-Korea relationship during a forum at the Atlantic Council in Washington, U.S. December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst”Let’s just meet,“ Tillerson said in a speech to a Washington think tank, offering a new diplomatic opening amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s weapons advances. ”We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether it’s going to be a square table or a round table. “Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards,” Tillerson said, suggesting that any initial contacts would be about setting the ground rules for formal negotiations.