Trump, Kim to meet anew in month after N.Korean visits White House

President Donald Trump will meet for the second time with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un around the end of February, the White House said Friday, after a top general from Pyongyang paid a rare visit to Washington.

Vice Chairman Kim Yong Chol, a right-hand man to the North Korean strongman, met the embattled president at the White House for an unusually long 90 minutes as the countries seek a denuclearization accord that could ease decades of hostility.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that Trump - who has opined that he and Kim Jong Un fell "in love" after last year's landmark first summit - would again meet the North Korean leader "near the end of February" at a location to be announced later.

The latest flurry of diplomacy comes little more than a year after Trump was threatening to wipe North Korea off the map, with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests rattling nerves in East Asia.

Sanders praised North Korea's efforts to reconcile but ruled out, for now, a key demand of Pyongyang - a lifting of sanctions.

"The United States is going to continue to keep pressure and sanctions on North Korea until we see fully and verified denuclearization," Sanders told reporters.

"We've had very good steps in good faith from the North Koreans in releasing the hostages and other moves and so we'll continue those conversations," she said.

She was referring to Pyongyang's quick deportation last year of an American. In 2017, a US student returned home comatose from North Korea and died within days after what a US judge said was torture.

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