President Donald Trump said Sunday it would be a waste of time trying to negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear program. Photo: AFP file 

 

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Sunday it would be a waste of time trying to negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear program after it emerged the US had channels of contact with Pyongyang.

"I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

"Save your energy Rex, we´ll do what has to be done!"

The US said on Saturday it was directly communicating with North Korea on its nuclear and missile programs but Pyongyang had shown no interest in dialogue.

US directly communicating with North Korea, seeks dialogue

The goal of any initial dialogue would be simple: finding out directly from North Korea what it wants to discuss

The disclosure by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during a trip to China represented the first time he has spoken to such an extent about U.S. outreach to North Korea over its pursuit of a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile.

?We are probing so stay tuned,? Tillerson told a group of reporters in Beijing.

?We ask: ?Would you like to talk?? We have lines of communications to Pyongyang. We?re not in a dark situation, a blackout.?

He said that communication was happening directly and cited two or three US channels open to Pyongyang.

?We can talk to them. We do talk to them,? he said, without elaborating about which Americans were involved in those contacts or how frequent or substantive they were.

The goal of any initial dialogue would be simple: finding out directly from North Korea what it wants to discuss.

?We haven?t even gotten that far yet,? he said.

Trying to tamp down expectations, the State Department said later there were no signs Pyongyang was interested in talks.