Tillerson: U.S. is ready to talk to North Korea without preconditions

During a speech in Washington on Tuesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he's ready to start talking directly with North Korea, without any preconditions.

"Let's just meet," he said in front of the Atlantic Council. "We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table. Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work toward." Previously, the U.S. has said it would only start discussions with Pyongyang if they talked about North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons.

Tillerson also said that for any talks to move forward, there would need to be a "period of quiet" without any missile or nuclear tests. He's taking a more measured approach than President Trump, who regularly insults North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un by calling him "Little Rocket Man" and "short and fat."