The White House reaffirmed Monday that "now is not the time" to talk with North Korea, putting a lid on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's attempts to open a dialogue with Pyongyang.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the only exception would be talks aimed at bringing home Americans detained by North Korea.

"There is a difference between talking and putting diplomatic pressure and we strongly support putting diplomatic pressure on North Korea which we're continuing to do. But now is not the time simply to have conversations with North Korea," she said.

Source: AFP