U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet by May and Kim has pledged to refrain from further nuclear or missile tests, South Korea's national security chief said on Thursday after briefing White House officials on talks between Seoul and Pyongyang. He has derided Kim by referring to him as “Little Rocket Man.”

After Kim repeated threats against the U.S. in a New Year’s address and mentioned the “nuclear button” on his office desk, Trump responded by tweeting that he has a nuclear button, too, “but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said the “price of admission” for Trump and Kim meeting must be “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., also said that the invitation was the “beginning of a long diplomatic process” and that Trump needed to avoid “unscripted” remarks that could derail it. While Graham acknowledged North Korea’s past as being “all talk and no action,” he warned Kim directly that “the worst possible thing you can do is meet with President Trump in person and try to play him.”

He added, “If you do that, it will be the end of you – and your regime.”

U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also said the invitation showed that sanctions on North Korea were “starting to work.”

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also praised the sanctions implemented by Congress, saying that they “are having a real effect.”

However, some members of the committee remained skeptical. “President Trump appreciated the briefing and said he would meet Kim Jong Un by May to achieve denuclearization.”

Earlier Thursday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that though “talks about talks” might be possible with Pyongyang, denuclearization negotiations were likely a long way off.
U.S. President Donald Trump accepts an invitation from North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un to discuss North Korea's denuclearization sometime by May.