The United States has had contacts at the highest levels with North Korea but Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un have not spoken directly, the White House said Tuesday night.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders was clarifying earlier comments by Trump, who appeared to answer "yes" to a question shouted by a reporter as to whether he had spoken with Kim, as they prepare for a historic meeting in a matter of weeks.
"The president said the administration has had talks at the highest levels and added that they were not with him directly," Sanders said.
The revelations set the stage for a major breakthrough at a series of upcoming summits, Trump said "a great chance to solve a world problem" was within reach on the Korean peninsula.
Side-by-side with Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe at Trump's Palm Beach, Florida resort, the US president said that a rare inter-Korean summit in 10 days time could, with his "blessing," discuss an elusive peace treaty.
"People don't realize the Korean War has not ended. It's going on right now. And they are discussing an end to the war," he said. "Subject to a deal they have my blessing and they do have my blessing to discuss that."
With those comments Trump appeared to confirm that North and South Korean talks on April 27 will touch on a possible peace treaty -- a deeply symbolic replacement to the more ad-hoc armistice signed in 1953.
The US-led United Nations command, China and North Korea are signatories to the half century old accord, but most experts agree South Korea would likely have to be a signatory to any successor agreement.
