Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told TMZ on Wednesday that the only way to deal with North Korea and its president, Kim Jong Un, is to work with the nation on "things that they're asking for."

Assenting to the opinion that the United States is on the "brink of nuclear war," Waters told a TMZ cameraman that she wants the U.S. to be "very careful."

"I want us to be very careful, very alert to what is happening and to avoid war," Waters said. "I think we can do this with some diplomacy, but we have got to have [Rex] Tillerson, who is our secretary of state, get those positions filled for deputy [and] for assistant, so that we can engage with North Korea."

Waters said that despite North Korea's continued threats against the U.S. and on U.S. territory, Guam, the government should be actively negotiating with the Kim regime.

"I think there's some things that they want from us, and we have to find out whether or not we can work with them on the things that they're asking for," Waters said.

Invoking President Donald Trump's warning that any further threats to the U.S. by North Korea would be "met with fire and fury like the world has never seen," Waters added, "This is something that we should be very concerned about, but this is not the time to go bluffing and threatening. This is a time for a diplomacy."

In response to Waters' remarks, former Arkansas Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee weighed in with thoughts of his own.

Huckabee wrote on Twitter: "@POTUS has dispatched Maxine Waters to NOKO [North Korea] to talk to Lil Kim [Jong-Un]. After 1/2 hour with her he will drink whatever he gave to his 1/2 brother."