White House responds to Pyongyang willingness for dialogue

Sarah Huckabee Sanders answers questions in PyeongChang, South Korea on February 25, 2018.

White House on Sunday issued a statement that said North Korea's willingness to engage in dialogue must lead to an end to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile weapons program.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “The Trump Administration is committed to achieving the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Sanders was in PyeongChang as part of the US delegation lead by Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump.

Pyongyang senior officials were in South Korea over the weekend for the closing of the Winter Olympics. And by early Sunday the North Korean delegation said they would be open to talks with the US, according to a statement released from South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s office.

The White House statement went on to say that, “The US and South Korea, and the international community broadly agree that denuclearization must be the result of any dialogue with North Korea.”

Meanwhile, the White House indicated it would follow through with the latest round of sanctions against North Korea announced Friday.

“The maximum pressure campaign must continue until North Korea denuclearizes,” said Sanders.

“And will see if Pyongyang’s message today represents its first steps along the path to denuclearization. The US and the world must continue to make clear that North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs are “a dead end.,” the White House statement concluded.

The US announced its most severe sanctions against North Korea last Friday, which aim to prevent the country from further developing its nuclear program. The restrictive measures prohibit US citizens from conducting business with 56 vessels and companies.

North Korea's foreign ministry condemned the sanctions is the “act of war.”