WASHINGTON -- The White House said Monday the US wants to see North Korea's provocative behavior "ratcheted down immediately" as part of the "right circumstances" under which President Donald Trump said he would be willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
"We've got to see their provocative behavior ratcheted down immediately. There is a lot of conditions but I think it would have to happen with respect to its behavior and to show signs of good faith. Clearly conditions are not there right now," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at a regular briefing.
(Yonhap)
"But I think the president has made it clear, as Secretary Tillerson the other day, if the conditions, if the circumstances present themselves, we would be prepared, but they're clearly not at this time," Spicer said.
Earlier in the day, Trump said in an interview with the Bloomberg News that he's willing to meet with the North's leader.
"If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it," Trump said. "If it's under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that."
Spicer stressed that the key part of Trump's statement was the "right circumstances."
"Those circumstances do not exist now," he said. "If North Korea continues down a degree of provocative behavior and those circumstances will never be there.
"But we want to hold out the possibility that if North Korea were ever serious about completely dismantling its nuclear capability and taking away the threat they pose both to the region and to us that there is always going to be a possibility of that occurring. That possibility is not there at this time," Spicer said.
Meanwhile, Spicer said that the North's leader "managed to lead the country forward" after taking over the country at a young age after his father died.
He made the remark when asked about a series of positive comments Trump made about Kim, including calling the autocratic leader a "pretty smart cookie."
"I think his point was ... that he assumed power at a young age when his father passed away and there was a lot of potential that could have come his way and he's obviously managed to lead the country forward despite the obvious concerns that we and so many other people have," Spicer said.
"He is a young person to be leading a country with a nuclear weapon. That set aside, the president recognizes the threat he poses and is doing everything he can to isolate that threat and to make sure that we bring stability to the region," he said. (Yonhap)
