The White House already looks like it's backtracking on Trump's meeting with Kim Jong Un

REUTERS/Leah Millis

U.S. President Donald Trump announces a presidential proclamation placing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 8, 2018.

• White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed conditions to President Donald Trump's potential meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
• Sanders said that Trump would only take the meeting "on the basis that we have concrete and verifiable steps."
• Trump appeared to have accepted the invitation to meet on Thursday, according to remarks from South Korea's national security adviser.

The White House added conditions to President Donald Trump's potential meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a day after news of the invitation was confirmed.

"The president will not have the meeting without seeing concrete steps and concrete actions take place by North Korea, so the president will actually be getting something," press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday. She repeated later in the briefing that Trump would only take the meeting "on the basis that we have concrete and verifiable steps."

South Korea's national security adviser, Chung Eui-Yong, made the announcement in front of the White House Thursday night. In his remarks, Chung confirmed Trump said "he would meet Kim Jong Un by May to achieve permanent denuclearization."

No exact date or location have been confirmed, according to Sanders. She also did not confirm what kind, if any, preconditions were set for the meeting, which Trump seems to have already committed to.

The White House's reaction had North Korea observers questioning if the summit would even take place.

"If they're this uncomfortable talking about a prospective summit, it probably means it won't happen by May and may not even happen at all," Ankit Panda, a senior editor at The Diplomat, wrote on Twitter.