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| US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson |
By Lee Haye-ah
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Yonhap) -- The United States continues to be interested in dialogue with North Korea, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday, as the two sides appeared to tamp down escalating tensions over the regime's nuclear and missile programs.
Tillerson made clear, however, that the ball is in North Korea's court.
"We continue to be interested in finding a way to get to a dialogue but that's up to him," he told reporters at the State Department, referring to the North's leader, Kim Jong-un, after announcing the release of a new religious freedom report.
He did not go into details, but the secretary has previously said the North could signal a willingness to hold talks on its denuclearization by stopping missile tests.
Tensions flared last week after Pyongyang threatened to fire four intermediate-range ballistic missiles towards the U.S. territory of Guam. Kim suspended that plan early Tuesday, saying he would watch Washington's behavior "a little more."
"I have no response to his decisions at all at this time," Tillerson said.
North Korea conducted two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July, sharply increasing tensions in an already volatile region.
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