Tillerson not creating new policy on North Korea: US State Department

A day after secretary of state Rex Tillerson said the US was ready for talks with North, the White House said "clearly the time is not right now" and that the US State Department was on the "same page".

On Wednesday, Tillerson had said: "We're ready to talk whenever they're(North Korea) ready to talk," adding that North Korea must be "ready to make a choice." However, Tillerson's statement was contradicted by the US state department today which said its policy on North Korea "has not changed."

"The secretary was not creating a new policy, our policy remains exactly the same as it was," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

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"We remain open to dialogue when North Korea is willing to conduct a credible dialogue on the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," she said.

President Trump's national security advisor(NSA), H.R. McMaster, said that denuclearization is "the only viable objective in North Korea."

"Talks with North Korea won't be an end in themselves," McMaster added.

McMaster said Tillerson's comment on talks without preconditions does not mean the US will "relieve any pressure on North Korea, or cave in to any demands for pay-offs."

Talking to the Atlantic Council policy Tillerson had said North Korea was welcome to talk about anything at a first meeting - even the weather, however, he insisted that sanctions on Kim's regime would continue until "the first bomb drops."