Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that the U.S. would be willing to hold talks with North Korea even if the Communist nation does not do away with its nuclear weapons program.

Although Tillerson said the goal of U.S. policy remained denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, he added it was “not realistic to say we’re only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They’ve too much invested in it. The president is very realistic about that as well.”

Tillerson’s remarks at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington came two weeks after North Korea conducted a test with a missile that could potentially carry a nuclear warhead to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard — a milestone in its decades-long drive to pose an atomic threat to its American adversary that Trump has vowed to prevent, using military force if necessary.

“We are ready to talk any time North Korea would like to talk. We are ready to have the first meeting without preconditions. Let’s just meet,” Tillerson said. “And then we can begin to lay out a road map.”

The secretary of state did say that a “period of quiet,” without new nuclear or missile tests, would have to take place before talks could begin. This year, the North has conducted more than 20 ballistic missile launches and one nuclear test explosion, its most powerful yet. (Read more from “US Ready to Talk Any Time North Korea Wants, Tillerson Says” HERE)

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The world has been increasingly concerned in recent months about North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, which indicate dictator Kim Jong Un could be capable of attacking just about anywhere in the world within months, says a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

The communist regime this week launched a missile that could have traveled the entire breadth of the United States to Washington, D.C.

It’s no small threat, but it’s not the only one posed by North Korea’s missiles.

The other is its export of weaponry to other rogue nations, as well as terror groups.

The threat was highlighted by a Gatestone Institute report on North Korea’s export of chemical weapons to Syria. (Read more from “The Other North Korea Weapon Threat” HERE)

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Pyongyang may have replaced its entire border security force after a North Korean soldier dramatically defected into South Korea last week.

Yonhap news agency on Friday cited an unnamed intelligence source who said there were “signs” the North had replaced its entire force of 35 to 40 men at the Joint Security Area.

The source said North Korea seems to have temporarily closed a bridge over which the defector drove a military jeep to reach the border before his dramatic escape on foot last Monday. The source said the North could be preparing to install a security gate at the bridge for strengthening its screening of personnel coming in and out of the area.

A photo posted on the Twitter account of the acting U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Marc Knapper, showed North Korean workers using shovels to dig what Knapper said was a trench at the spot where the defector crossed the border.

According to South Korea’s military, four North Korean soldiers using handguns and AK-47 assault rifles fired about 40 rounds at the defector, who rushed across the line that divides the Koreas after getting his vehicle stuck in a ditch. (Read more from “North Korea May Have Replaced Its Entire Border Security Team After Defection” HERE)

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un keeps his citizens on a tight leash, according to defectors, but the leader has now constricted his control even further by banning North Koreans from drinking and singing, according to a new report.

Citizens have been banned from participating in “any gatherings related to drinking, singing and other entertainment,” Yonhap News Agency reported Monday. The North Korean regime is also “strengthening control of outside information.”

The ban is reportedly an effort to stifle “a possible negative impact” of sanctions against North Korea in response to its recent nuclear tests.

The rogue state has also taken action against its military, by “undertaking an inspection of the military politburo” due to an “impure attitude toward the party leadership,” according to Reuters.

Top military officials — including bureau chief Hwang Pyong-so and deputy chief Kim Won-hong — were punished as a result of the investigation, but it’s unclear how they were disciplined. (Read more from “North Korea Bans Drinking, Singing, Punishes Officials for ‘Impure Attitude,’ Report Says” HERE)

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The United States will continue to stare into the “abyss of doom” until “lunatic old” President Trump is removed from office, according to a North Korean missive Wednesday, released just hours after Trump warned the rogue regime not to “try” America.

The Hermit Kingdom demanded the U.S. “withdraw the hostile policy toward” Kim Jong Un’s dictatorship and said a “decisive choice” needed to be made, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday.

“The U.S. must oust the lunatic old man from power and withdraw the hostile policy towards [North Korea] at once in order to get rid of the abyss of doom,” the statement read. “The U.S. had better make a decisive choice…if it does not want a horrible nuclear disaster and tragic doom.”

Kim’s warning about the impending “abyss of doom” heading toward the U.S. — and every country joining in America’s aim to dismantle Pyongyang’s nuclear program — comes after Trump issued a stark warning to Kim Jong Un during a speech in South Korea during Trump’s five-country Asia tour.

“Do not underestimate us. And do not try us,” Trump said, directly addressing North Korea as Trump stood in a room full of South Korean lawmakers. “The weapons you are acquiring are not making you safer, they are putting your regime in grave danger.” (Read more from “North Korea Warns of ‘Abyss of Doom’ If ‘Lunatic’ Trump Remains President” HERE)

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