US Secretary of state Rex Tillerson: US is in direct contact with North Korea

United States acknowledged for the first time on Saturday that it has direct lines of communication with North Korea over its nuclear and missile tests. 

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that his immediate goal is to 'calm down things', opening a possible way forward beyond threats of military confrontation between both the sides.

"We are probing, so stay tuned," Tillerson replied. "We ask, 'Would you like to talk?' We have lines of communications to Pyongyang. We're not in a dark situation or a blackout. We have a couple of direct channels to Pyongyang. We can talk to them. We do talk to them. Directly, through our own channels."

Tillerson also claimed that the Trump administration aspired for peace and stability vis-a-vis North Korea.North Korea and US have threatened each other with dire consequences over North's nuclear program.

Whereas North Korea has claimed that its missiles can strike US, President Trump vowed to destroy North Korea."I think the most immediate action that we need is to calm things down," Tillerson added.

Tillerson was in Beijing for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and to discuss North Korea and other issues, as well as to lay the groundwork for Trump's planned visit to China in early November.