The U.S. and North Korea began their first unofficial contact since Donald Trump was elected last week as the next U.S. president, allowing the two sides to break the ice.

The so-called “track two” unofficial meetings that kicked off in Geneva on Thursday were attended by North Korea's Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Chang Il-hun and Director-General for North American Affairs Choe Son-hui. 

The U.S. delegation included Joel Wit, editor of the North Korea-specialized Web site 38 North, and Robert Einhorn, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

During a brief encounter with South Korean reporters at a hotel where the meeting took place, Jang declined to say whether the North Korean delegation had a message to relay to the incoming Trump administration. Pyongyang has yet to react to Trump's election officially via its state-controlled media.

With no formal diplomatic ties between North Korea and the United States, the non-governmental track two meetings play an important role in exchanging viewpoints between the two countries.

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