WASHINGTON, March 9 (Xinhua) -- The White House said Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), after seeing "concrete steps" taken by Pyongyang.
"The president will not have the meeting without seeing concrete steps and concrete actions take place by North Korea (the DPRK), so the president would actually be getting something," White House Spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told a daily press briefing Friday afternoon.
Saying, "We're not in the negotiation right now," the spokesperson did not specify what the "actions" will be.
The remarks seemingly suggested an attitude of holding back from the White House's rhetoric one day earlier, when it confirmed that Trump has agreed to meet Kim in a couple of months "at a place and time yet to be determined."
If achieved, the proposed meeting will make Trump the first sitting U.S. president to meet the DPRK's top leader, signaling a step toward resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.
U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson said Friday that the conditions are not right for negotiations with the DPRK, while the United States was "open to talks."
"President Trump has said for some time that he was open to talks and he would willingly meet with Kim Jong Un when conditions were right and the time was right," said the visiting top U.S. diplomat in the capital city of Djibouti.
The diplomatic overture from Washington on Thursday came in response to an invitation relayed by South Korea's top national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, who briefed Trump and other U.S. officials here on Chung's recent meeting with Kim in Pyongyang.
Kim is committed to denuclearization and pledged to refrain from conducting further nuclear or missile tests during this period, Chung told reporters Thursday evening at the White House.
Signs of a thaw on the Korean Peninsula emerged earlier this year since working-level talks between the two Koreas were held at the truce village of Panmunjom and the DPRK participated in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. In addition, the two Koreas agreed to hold the third inter-Korean summit in late April.
China welcomes the positive news on direct dialogue released by the United States and the DPRK, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.?
