Tillerson, Lavrov Agree to Continue Diplomacy Over NKorea

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to continue diplomatic efforts to address North Korea's nuclear program, emphasizing that neither Washington nor Moscow accepted Pyongyang as a nuclear power, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The two men, who spoke by telephone on Tuesday, also discussed rising violence in eastern Ukraine, with Tillerson asking Russia to "lower the level of violence," spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. They also addressed the crisis in Syria, she added.