The United States has indicated it would be willing to hold direct negotiations with North Korea if the conditions are right.

In an interview with U.S. National Public Radio set to air Friday, Tillerson said direct talks is "obviously the way" the U.S. would like to solve the North Korea issue.

Tillerson said, however, Pyongyang has to decide it's ready to talk about the "right agenda," an indication complete denuclearization must be an item discussed during talks.

Tillerson said the right agenda would not be halting nuclear development for a few months or years and then resuming that process. He said that pattern has been the agenda for the last 20 years.

The secretary said North Korea believes a nuclear deterrent is the only way the regime can survive.

Tillerson explained the U.S. hopes to convince the North that it does not seek a collapse of the regime or an "accelerated reunification" of the Korean Peninsula but that the U.S. seeks a denuclearized peninsula. 

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