Biden Willing to Sit With NKorea, but Sans 'Preconditions'

President Joe Biden is willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, just without "preconditions," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told Kyodo News.

Kirby made the comments to the Japanese outlet on Thursday on the eve of Biden meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David in Maryland.

"They have not responded positively to that offer, but it's still on the table. We are willing to sit down and negotiate without preconditions," Kirby told Kyodo News, adding Kim "has shown no interest in that."

Kirby did not say when the offer was first made to North Korea. Though the administration has reached out to North Korea through multiple channels previously, this is the first offer of an official sitdown between Biden and Kim.

Former President Donald Trump met with Kim three times during his tenure.

As part of Friday's summit between the U.S., South Korea, and Japan, the first standalone such meeting between the three leaders, the countries agreed to consult each other — a three-way hotline — in the event of security crises in the Pacific.

South Korea had previously detected activity to suggest North Korea was set to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile to coincide with the Camp David summit.

"There could be some sort of provocative action, but we just don't know what that's going to look like. And it wouldn't be a good use of our time in worrying too much about that," Kirby told Kyodo News about that specific possibility.

"We've got to make sure that we are ready in every other respect to defend our national security interests and those of our Korean and Japanese allies," Kirby added.

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