Donald Trump’s Vice President said the US and South Korea had already agreed on terms for further diplomatic engagement with North Korea, first with Seoul and then possibly direct talks with Washington.
The prospect of talks comes after months of tension between Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes with Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un trading colourful insults and threats of destruction amid tightening UN sanctions.
Speaking aboard Air Force Two on his way home from the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in South Korea, Mr Pence said Washington would keep up its “maximum pressure campaign” against Pyongyang but would be open to possible talks at the same time.
He said: “The point is, no pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that the alliance believes represents a meaningful step toward denuclearisation.
“So the maximum pressure campaign is going to continue and intensify. But if you want to talk, we’ll talk.”
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said it was too early to judge whether the thawing of relations between North and South Korea represented the start of a diplomatic process.
He said: ”We’ve said for some time it’s really up to the North Koreans to decide when they’re ready to engage with us in a sincere way, a meaningful way.
“They know what has to be on the table for conversations.”
Mr Trump has questioned the purpose of further talks after years of negotiations by previous US administrations failed to halt Pyongyang’s weapons programmes.
Last year, North Korea conducted dozens of missile launches and its sixth and largest nuclear test in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions as it pursues its goal of developing a nuclear-armed missile capable of reaching the US mainland.
Relations between the two Koreas have improved in recent weeks, with Pyongyang sending its highest ranking delegation ever to attend the Winter Olympic Games, being held in the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang.
The visit included an invitation for South Korean President Moon Jae-in to travel to Pyongyang for talks. Such a meeting, if it came about, would mark the first inter-Korea summit since 2007.
A South Korean government official said Seoul’s stance was that separate talks with North Korea by South Korea and the US should both lead to the denuclearisation of the North while sanctions and pressure continue to be applied.
North Korea defends its weapons programmes as essential to counter US aggression, saying regular war drills between the US and South Korea are preparations for invasion.
More than 28,000 US troops are stationed in South Korea in a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean war.