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North Korea's Kim Jong Un invites President Trump to meet, pledges to stop nuclear tests

WASHINGTON — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has offered to meet with President Donald Trump and Trump has accepted.

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The invitation was delivered Thursday by North Korean national security advisor Chung Eui-yong. In the message - which was originally reported to have been delivered in a letter -- Kim Jong Un also pledged to stop nuclear and missile testing. A senior administration official said later that the message was delivered orally and not in writing, CNN reported.

The meeting will take place by May, according to the South Korean official, but the White House did not confirm the date.

In a statement released Friday, Vice President Mike Pence said the planned meeting "is evidence that President Trump's strategy to isolate the Kim regime is working."

"The North Koreans are coming to the table despite the United States making zero concessions and, in close coordination with our allies, we have consistently increased the pressure on the Kim regime," he said. "Our resolve is undeterred and our policy remains the same: all sanctions remain in place and the maximum pressure campaign will continue until North Korea takes concrete, permanent and verifiable steps to end their nuclear program."

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during an appearance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that the United States and North Korea were still a "long ways from negotiations."