Trump not to meet Kim Jong unless N-Korea takes concrete actions to end nuclear weapons programme: White House

Washington, March 10: US President Donald Trump will not meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unless Pyongyang takes concrete actions, the White House said yesterday. This came after Washington faced criticism for agreeing to talks that would boost Kim's standing.

Sanders did not specify what actions North Korea needed to take, and a White House official later said she was not intending to set new conditions for talks with Kim.

The United States has long said it wants any talks to aim at Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear weapons and missile programs. Hopes for a breakthrough with North Korea rose on Thursday when Trump said he was prepared to hold an unprecedented meeting with Kim.

The two leaders prompted jitters around the world last year as they exchanged bellicose insults over the North's attempts to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the United States. Pyongyang has pursued its nuclear program in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

But tension eased around last month's Winter Olympics in South Korea, laying the groundwork for what would be the first meeting between leaders from North Korea and the United States, and the biggest foreign policy gamble for Trump since he took office in January last year.