caption President Donald Trump. source REUTERS/Leah Millis

The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said on Friday that certain conditions would need to be met before President Donald Trump would sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Sanders said Trump would take the meeting only “on the basis that we have concrete and verifiable steps” toward the denuclearization of North Korea.

Trump agreed to meet with Kim in the next two months, South Korea’s national security adviser said on Thursday.

The White House said on Friday that certain conditions would need to be met before President Donald Trump would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“The president will not have the meeting without seeing concrete steps and concrete actions take place by North Korea,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary. “So the president would actually be getting something.”

She said later in the briefing that Trump would take the meeting only “on the basis that we have concrete and verifiable steps” toward the denuclearization of North Korea.

South Korea’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said at the White House on Thursday that Trump had agreed to “meet Kim Jong Un by May to achieve permanent denuclearization.”

Sanders said that neither a date nor a location had been determined for a meeting, to which Trump seems to have already committed.

The White House’s reaction had North Korea observers questioning whether the meeting would even take place.

“If they’re this uncomfortable talking about a prospective summit, it probably means it won’t happen by May and may not even happen at all,” Ankit Panda, a senior editor at The Diplomat, wrote on Twitter.

Other US officials have pushed back on Sanders’ comments.

“The invitation has been extended and accepted, and that stands,” an unidentified White House official told a Wall Street Journal reporter. </s> Donald Trump's press secretary Sarah Sanders said the US president had received a "very warm, very positive letter" from Kim.

She told reporters that a military parade in Pyongyang on Sunday was a sign of progress in talks on denuclearisation because it did not feature any long-range nuclear missiles.

The White House is now preparing for a possible second crunch summit between the two leaders.

The pair met in June this year, the first such meeting between serving US and North Korean leaders.

This is a breaking story, more to follow... </s> The White House on Friday rejected arguments that President Trump is giving North Korea a political win by agreeing to meet with Kim Jong Un, and said the meeting will not take place until Pyongyang takes "concrete steps" toward denuclearization.

"The president is getting exactly what he wants. He is getting the opportunity to have the North Koreans actually denuclearize. Nothing is changing on the United States position," said press secretary Sarah Sanders.

"I definitely don't think that the president is getting nothing when we've already said ... that the president will not have the meeting without seeing concrete steps and concrete actions," she added.

Trump announced late Thursday that he would meet with the North Korean dictator by May, after a South Korean delegation briefed administration officials on Kim's "commitment to denuclearization" and willingness to engage in talks.

While the White House has touted the development as an important step toward permanent denuclearization, some have questioned whether a face-to-face meeting will lend credibility to the North Korea's authoritarian ruler. Sanders pushed back on such criticism and said the summit represents historic progress.

"The president is getting promises out of North Korea that have not been made in any recent years," she said. </s> U.S. President Donald Trump received a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about scheduling a second meeting between the two leaders, and the White House wants it to take place, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Monday. Sanders described the letter as “warm” and “positive.” She told reporters that a military parade in Pyongyang on Sunday was a sign of progress in talks on denuclearization because it did not feature any long-range nuclear missiles. </s> The White House appeared Friday to put conditions on a much-anticipated meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying it would only happen once the rogue nation takes "concrete and verifiable action" to demonstrate its commitment to denuclearization.

"We've accepted the invitation to talk based on them following through on concrete actions on the promises they've made," Sanders said Friday.

The surprise announcement of a possible Trump-Kim summit came after the president met Thursday with South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-yong. Chung briefed the president about his recent meeting with Kim in Pyongyang.

But less than 24 hours later, the White House appeared to hedge somewhat and call into question whether the meeting would ever come to fruition. Sanders appeared to add the condition that North Korea take tangible steps towards denuclearization before any meeting takes place. Last year, North Korea successfully tested its intercontinental ballistic missiles.

When pressed by reporters if that meant that the meeting might not happen after all, Sanders underscored that the onus was on North Korea. She emphasized that "nothing" had changed from the U.S. viewpoint and that Trump's "maximum pressure campaign" against North Korea would continue.

Sanders didn't outline what actions would fulfill that denuclearization prerequisite, only saying that the national security and intelligence community would make those determinations. A time and place for the Trump-Kim meeting have not yet been set, although South Korea says it's expected by May.

As NPR's Elise Hu reported Thursday, "Any meeting between these two leaders would be historic. The U.S. has no diplomatic ties with North Korea, the countries are adversaries dating to the Korean War and repeatedly traded heated insults last year, including Trump's remarks at the United Nations, in which he vowed to 'totally destroy' North Korea if the U.S. was threatened."

Trump has also ribbed Kim on social media frequently, only heightening global tensions. Trump often referred to Kim as "Little Rocket Man" and bragged on Twitter that his nuclear button in the U.S. is bigger than the North Korean leader's.

Sanders also denied that the Thursday announcement had been haphazard in any way or that key foreign policy officials had been left out. Hours before the announcement, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had declared the U.S. is "a long ways from negotiations" with North Korea. But Tillerson, who's traveling in Africa, later emphasized a distinction between formal negotiations and what he called "talks."

Sanders also pushed back on the reports that national security adviser H.R. McMaster could be on his way out and said she had no reason to believe that McMaster wouldn't be a part of the upcoming North Korea talks. Sanders called the three-star Army general a "valued member" of the Trump administration.

"Look, the president has an incredible team that is surrounding him," Sanders said. "But, at the end of the day, the ultimate person to lead that negotiation or that conversation and be at the table will be the president." </s> White House Says North Korea Meeting Will Happen Only With 'Concrete' Action

The White House appeared Friday to put conditions on a much anticipated meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying it would only happen once the rogue nation takes "concrete and verifiable action" to demonstrate its commitment to denuclearization.

"We've accepted the invitation to talk based on them following through on concrete actions on the promises they've made," Sanders said Friday.

The surprise announcement of a possible Trump-Kim summit came after the president met Thursday with South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-yong. Chung briefed the president about his recent meeting with Kim in Pyongyang.

But less than 24 hours later, the White House appeared to hedge somewhat and call into question whether the meeting would ever come to fruition. Sanders appeared to add the condition that North Korea take tangible steps toward denuclearization before any meeting takes place. Last year, North Korea successfully tested its intercontinental ballistic missiles.

When pressed by reporters if that meant that the meeting might not happen after all, Sanders underscored that the onus was on North Korea. She emphasized that "nothing" had changed from the U.S. viewpoint and that Trump's "maximum pressure campaign" against North Korea would continue.

Sanders didn't outline the actions that would fulfill that denuclearization prerequisite, saying only that the national security and intelligence community would make those determinations. A time and place for the Trump-Kim meeting have not yet been set, although South Korea says it is expected by May.

As NPR's Elise Hu reported Thursday, "Any meeting between these two leaders would be historic. The U.S. has no diplomatic ties with North Korea; the countries are adversaries dating to the Korean War and repeatedly traded heated insults last year, including Trump's remarks at the United Nations, in which he vowed to 'totally destroy' North Korea if the U.S. was threatened."

Trump has also ribbed Kim on social media frequently, only heightening global tensions. Trump often referred to Kim as "Little Rocket Man" and bragged on Twitter that his nuclear button in the U.S. is bigger than the North Korean leader's.

Sanders also denied that the Thursday announcement had been haphazard in any way or that key foreign policy officials had been left out. Hours before the announcement, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had declared that the U.S. is "a long ways from negotiations" with North Korea. But Tillerson, who is traveling in Africa, later emphasized a distinction between formal negotiations and what he called "talks."

Sanders also pushed back on the reports that national security adviser H.R. McMaster could be on his way out and said she had no reason to believe that McMaster wouldn't be a part of the upcoming North Korea talks. Sanders called the three-star Army general a "valued member" of the Trump administration.

"Look, the president has an incredible team that is surrounding him," Sanders said. "But at the end of the day, the ultimate person to lead that negotiation or that conversation and be at the table will be the president." </s> The White House said Wednesday that it "fully expected" threats by North Korea to potentially cancel Kim Jong Un 's meeting with President Donald Trump . In a series of statements this week, the country's state media agency said Kim was considering pulling out of the summit due to joint air force drills taking place in South Korea."This is something that we fully expected," press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at the White House today. "The president is very used to being ready for tough negotiations and if they want to meet, we'll be ready, and if they don't, that's okay, too."Hours later, President Trump reacted to the statements for the first time when pressed by reporters in an Oval Office meeting alongside Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev."We haven't been notified at all," Trump said. "We'll have to see. We haven't seen anything, we haven't heard anything. We will see what happens."North Korea's announcement, issued Tuesday evening by state news organization KCNA, appeared to catch the State Department off guard, with spokesperson Heather Nauert telling reporters the U.S. had not heard from North Korea directly before the announcement.Earlier Wednesday, Sanders clarified the administration's plan if the summit were to be canceled."We're going to continue with the campaign of maximum pressure if that's the case," Sanders said. "But like I said if they want to meet, the president will certainly be ready and we'll be prepared. If not, that's okay."Sanders also appeared to distance the Trump administration from comments its national security adviser, John Bolton, made this past Sunday regarding the denuclearization model being pursued on the Korean peninsula.Bolton has repeatedly said that the administration plans to pursue "the Libya model," which calls for a strict monitoring and inspection plan to ensure North Korea has denuclearized.North Korea's first vice minister for foreign affairs, Kim Kye Gwan, directly criticized the model in a lengthy statement Wednesday night, accusing U.S. officials of "provoking" the country with "unbridled remarks.""High-ranking officials of the White House and the Department of State including Bolton, White House national security adviser, are letting loose the assertions of so-called Libya mode of nuclear abandonment," the statement read."The U.S. is miscalculating the magnanimity and broad-minded initiatives of the DPRK as signs of weakness and trying to embellish and advertise as if these are the product of its sanctions and pressure," the statement added. "It is ridiculous comedy to see the Trump administration, claiming to take a different road from the previous administration, still clings to the outdated policy on the DPRK."Sanders told reporters gathered in the North Lawn driveway at the White House Wednesday that the Libya model is not a part of any administration policy she's aware of."I haven't seen that as part of any discussions, I'm not aware that that's a model that we're using," Sanders said. "Again, this is the President Trump model. He's gonna run this the way he sees fit. We're 100 percent confident -- as we've said many times before, as you all know, you're aware -- he's the best negotiator, and we're very confident in that."The episode has drawn parallels to the breakdown in the Bush Administration's nuclear negotiations with North Korea in 2008. At the time, Kim's father, Kim Jong Il , balked at requests for a strict inspections program similar to what President George W. Bush had utilized to eliminate Libya's nuclear program in 2003 and 2004."There's not a cookie-cutter model on how this works," Sanders said in response to Bolton's championing of that model. </s> President Donald Trump has received what the White House said is a "very warm, very positive letter" from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, requesting a follow-up meeting with Trump after the summit in Singapore earlier this year.

"The primary purpose of the letter was to request and look to schedule another meeting with the president," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters at the press briefing Monday. It was a request, she said, "which we are open to and already in the process of coordinating."

Talk of another Trump-Kim meeting initially seemed like an about-face for Trump, following the president's abrupt decision in late August to cancel a planned trip to North Korea by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

At the time, Trump tweeted, "I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to go to North Korea, at this time, because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

Asked by reporters on Monday what had changed in the three weeks since Trump canceled Pompeo's trip, Sanders cited a recent parade in Pyongyang. The annual parade has traditionally featured a display of intercontinental ballistic missiles, an obvious nod to North Korea's nuclear weapons program. This year, however, there were reportedly no ICBMs at the parade.

"The recent parade in North Korea, for once, was not about their nuclear arsenal," Sanders said, adding that the letter from Kim was "further evidence of progress" in the Trump administration's goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

But there are still serious issues standing in the way of further progress on North Korea. Notably, a new report from NBC News on Monday featured an assessment from intelligence officials that Kim is indeed still making nuclear weapons.

Citing U.S. intelligence officials, NBC also reported that North Korea is escalating its efforts to hide certain nuclear facilities, possibly to keep satellite images from revealing activity taking place there. The country is also moving nuclear warheads between various facilities, according to the officials.

The hardening intelligence assessment comes less than three months after Trump held a historic summit with Kim in Singapore in June, after which the president tweeted, "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea." </s> White House Says North Korea Meeting Will Happen Only With 'Concrete' Action

The White House appeared Friday to put conditions on a much anticipated meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying it would only happen once the rogue nation takes "concrete and verifiable action" to demonstrate its commitment to denuclearization.

"We've accepted the invitation to talk based on them following through on concrete actions on the promises they've made," Sanders said Friday.

Later in the day, Trump himself tweeted out that there was, indeed, a deal "very much in the making."

The surprise announcement of a possible Trump-Kim summit came after the president met Thursday with South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-yong. Chung briefed the president about his recent meeting with Kim in Pyongyang.

But less than 24 hours later, the White House appeared to hedge somewhat and call into question whether the meeting would ever come to fruition. Sanders appeared to add the condition that North Korea take tangible steps toward denuclearization before any meeting takes place. Last year, North Korea successfully tested its intercontinental ballistic missiles.

When pressed by reporters if that meant that the meeting might not happen after all, Sanders underscored that the onus was on North Korea. She emphasized that "nothing" had changed from the U.S. viewpoint and that Trump's "maximum pressure campaign" against North Korea would continue.

Sanders didn't outline the actions that would fulfill that denuclearization prerequisite, saying only that the national security and intelligence community would make those determinations. A time and place for the Trump-Kim meeting have not yet been set, although South Korea says it is expected by May.

As NPR's Elise Hu reported Thursday, "Any meeting between these two leaders would be historic. The U.S. has no diplomatic ties with North Korea; the countries are adversaries dating to the Korean War and repeatedly traded heated insults last year, including Trump's remarks at the United Nations, in which he vowed to 'totally destroy' North Korea if the U.S. was threatened."

Trump has also ribbed Kim on social media frequently, only heightening global tensions. Trump often referred to Kim as "Little Rocket Man" and bragged on Twitter that his nuclear button in the U.S. is bigger than the North Korean leader's.

Sanders also denied that the Thursday announcement had been haphazard in any way or that key foreign policy officials had been left out. Hours before the announcement, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had declared that the U.S. is "a long ways from negotiations" with North Korea. But Tillerson, who is traveling in Africa, later emphasized a distinction between formal negotiations and what he called "talks."

Sanders also pushed back on the reports that national security adviser H.R. McMaster could be on his way out and said she had no reason to believe that McMaster wouldn't be a part of the upcoming North Korea talks. Sanders called the three-star Army general a "valued member" of the Trump administration.

"Look, the president has an incredible team that is surrounding him," Sanders said. "But at the end of the day, the ultimate person to lead that negotiation or that conversation and be at the table will be the president."
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says that the White House needs to see "concrete and verifiable steps" toward the denuclearization of North Korea before meeting with Kim Jong-un.