North Korea’s deputy envoy to the U.N. has contacted a Washington official in an apparent attempt to reengage with the U.S. amid its peace offensive, a news report said Tuesday.

Jang Il-hoon met with Robert Rapson, director for Korean affairs at the U.S. State Department, apparently to get acquainted, Yonhap News reported, citing an unnamed government source.

As the two countries have no official diplomatic relations, Pyongyang’s U.N. mission has long been a crucial contact point.

The move appears to be aimed at defrosting relations frayed by the North’s revocation of a 2012 deal with the U.S. in which Pyongyang promised a moratorium on missile and nuclear tests in return for aid.

The communist country has been stepping up its peace offensive with Seoul and Washington following months of military tension.

Jang, formerly the director of the international organization office at the North Korean foreign ministry, has recently been stationed in New York to succeed Han Song-ryol, who returned home early this month after a more than three-year stint.

Han was in charge of the so-called New York channel with Clifford Hart, who served as Washington’s special envoy for the six-party denuclearization talks and is now consul general in Hong Kong.

Rapson is expected to take Hart’s place until his successor is named.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)