North Korea has shown no interest in pursuing talks on its nuclear and missile programs, the US State Department said on Saturday.

:: North Korea has shown no interest in pursuing talks on its nuclear and missile programs, the US State Department said on Saturday after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged the United States was communicating directly with Pyongyang.

“North Korean officials have shown no indication that they are interested in or are ready for talks regarding denuclearization,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

Talks with President Xi

Tillerson spoke after an afternoon of talks with China’s top diplomats and President Xi Jinping centered on the nuclear crisis and preparations for Trump’s visit to Beijing in November.

Before Tillerson revealed the diplomatic opening, a North Korean state body that handles external propaganda lobbed a new insult at Trump, calling the US leader an “old psychopath” on “a suicidal act of inviting a nuclear disaster that will reduce America into a sea of flames”.