The United States is not ruling out the eventual possibility of direct talks with North Korea, France 24 quoted Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan a saying on Tuesday.

Talks between the adversaries have long been urged by China in particular, but Washington and its ally Japan have been reluctant to sit down at the table with Pyongyang while it continues to pursue a goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States.

“Eventually, we don’t rule out the possibility of course of direct talks,” Sullivan said in Tokyo after talks with his Japanese counterpart.