Trump, Kim Jong Un unlikely to meet "any time soon": White House

WASHINGTON - The White House said on Monday US President Donald Trump's meeting with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Un is unlikely in the near future despite Trump's openness to that possibility.

"We are so early into this process that I don't see this happening any time soon," said White House spokesman Sean Spicer at the daily briefing, adding that conditions for such a meeting have not been met yet.

"We've got to see their provocative behavior ratchet down immediately. Those are a lot of conditions that I think would have to happen with respect to its behavior," said Spicer. "Clearly, conditions are not there right now."

Earlier on Monday, Trump told Bloomberg that he would meet Kim Jong Un "under the right circumstances."

"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."

Tension has remained very high over the past two months between the United States and the DPRK over the former's threat to stage military attack upon Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile programs.

The United States and South Korea also held their largest ever joint military exercises in the past two months, while the USS Carl Vinson nuclear aircraft carrier task group has arrived in the waters off the peninsula for joint drills with the South Korean military.