Trump dismisses talking to North Korea as wasted time


              U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, left, chats with China's President Xi Jinping during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, left, chats with China's President Xi Jinping during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump says that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.

It was not immediately clear what prompted Trump's tweets, among a series of weekend posts that ranged from hurricane recovery efforts in Puerto Rico to NFL players' allegiance to the national anthem, and at whom they were aimed: Tillerson, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, those pushing for continued diplomacy, those favoring a military response to repeated provocations.

Tillerson, after meetings in Beijing with Chinese leaders, had acknowledged Saturday that the Trump administration was keeping open direct channels of communications with North Korea and probing the North's willingness to talk.

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