Despite talks, threat of North Korea war growing: US' Rex Tillerson

Tillerson rejected any proposal calling for a "freeze" on US-South Korean military exercises in order to get talks started

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered a sobering assessment about the possibility of war with North Korea, saying advances in that country’s nuclear program meant the situation was “very tenuous.”

“We have to recognise that that threat is growing and if North Korea does not choose the pathway of engagement, of discussion, negotiations, then they themselves will trigger an option,” Tillerson told reporters on Tuesday night, shortly before North Korea resumed talks with Seoul on joining next month’s Olympic Games in South Korea.

“We’re at a very tenuous stage in terms of how far North Korea has taken their program,” he said.

Tillerson