Trump says Tillerson 'wasting his time' pursuing negotiations with North Korea

BRANCHBURG, N.J. — President Donald Trump signaled Sunday that he does not believe that attempts at direct communications with North Korea are worth the effort despite escalating tensions between Washington and Pyongyang.

A day after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggested that the United States maintains "lines of communications" with Kim Jong Un's regime, Trump wrote about it on Twitter.

"Rocket Man" is Trump's nickname for Kim.

The president has taken an increasingly hard-line stance toward Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests, threatening in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly two weeks ago to "totally destroy" North Korea if necessary.

Tillerson, on a visit to Beijing, told reporters Saturday that the State Department is "probing" through direct channels with the North whether Kim would be open to talks and under what conditions.

"We ask, 'Would you like to talk?' We have lines of communications to Pyongyang. We're not in a dark situation, a blackout. We have a couple, three, channels open to Pyongyang; we can talk to them; we do talk to them," Tillerson said.

"Stay tuned," he added.

Trump, who is spending the weekend at his Bedminster golf resort in New Jersey, has said repeatedly that he is open to military options. North Korean officials have suggested that Trump's threats amount to a declaration of war.