Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States is prepared to negotiate with North Korea without preconditions.

“We are ready to have the first meeting without precondition,” Mr Tillerson said in a speech in Washington, DC. “Let's just meet. We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table”.

The statement from America’s top diplomatic official underscores the urgency of efforts to blunt the threat of an increasingly belligerent North Korea. Mr Tillerson said any talks would have to occur amid a “period of quiet,” noting that it would be “tough to talk if in the middle of our talks you decide to test another device”.

Rejecting diplomatic entreaties and forging ahead with its weapons programmes despite multiple rounds of United Nations sanctions, Pyongyang has flexed its military muscle by testing intercontinental ballistic missiles and detonating what was likely a hydrogen bomb.

While Donald Trump and his leading officials have consistently held out the possibility of a military confrontation, Mr Tillerson said last month in response to North Korea’s latest test that “diplomatic options remain viable and open, for now,” floating the possibility of additional financial sanctions.

By contrast, Mr Tillerson’s counterpart at the UN, American ambassador Nikki Haley, reacted to the late-November test — in which a missile soared higher than any prior launch before crashing into the sea near Japan — by warning “the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed” if its actions continued to force the world toward war. She had earlier said diplomatic tools were effectively “exhausted”.

North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Show all 13 1 /13 North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Pyongyang residents react after the news of the successful launch of the new intercontinental ballistic missile AFP/Getty Images North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un signing an order to test-fire the newly developed inter-continental ballistic missile KRT via AP Video North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch A news broadcast displays Kim Jong Un's signed document AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch People cheer as they watch the news broadcast announcing Kim Jong Un's order to test-fire the new inter-continental ballistic missile AFP/Getty Images North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Residents react after the document signing AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Pyongyang residents celebrate Kim Jong Un's announcement AFP/Getty North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Cheering Pyongyang residents react AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch To counter North Korea's missile test, South Korea fired missiles into the East Sea The Defence Ministry/Yonhap via REUTERS North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch The Hyunmu-2 missiles firing during the drill South Korean Defense Ministry vi North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch The exercise was carried out in an attempt to counter Kim Jong Un's order South Korea Defense Ministry via AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch The South Korean army continue to carry out military exercises AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Where K-9 self-propelled howitzers were taking part in a drill Rex Features North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch US soldiers are also present in the border city of Paju AFP/Getty Images

Earlier this month, UN diplomat Jeffrey Feltman paid a rare visit to North Korea in an effort to quell tensions.

Contrasting with that diplomatic foray, the United States held joint military drills with South Korea that Pyongyang characteristically blasted as an act of aggression. The country’s foreign ministry called it “confrontational warmongering”.