North Korea ? North Korea said today that it is open to new dialogue to defuse tensions over its nuclear weapons program in what appeared to be a call for direct talks with the United States.

The statement from Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry marks a rare expression of willingness to talk by a regime that has rapidly escalated tensions with a flurry of provocations in recent months, including a nuclear test and a series of missile launches.

It also suggests that the isolated communist regime thinks it has raised its stakes enough, and it’s time to negotiate.