"I think I'd just go back to what I've said about that very issue before, and that nothing can happen in the absence of denuclearization," she said during a regular press briefing.

"Denuclearization has to come first."

Kim also committed to permanently dismantle a missile testing site in front of international inspectors but stopped short of naming particular groups or countries, including the US.

There appeared to be a discrepancy in US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's statement Wednesday that welcomed Kim's decision to dismantle the nuclear and missile facilities "in the presence of US and IAEA inspectors" and "in the presence of US and international inspectors," respectively.

"Having IAEA inspectors and United States inspectors be a part of anything is really just a shared understanding," Nauert said.

"Anytime you have a nuclear situation like this where there is a dismantlement, the expectation is that IAEA inspectors would be a part of that. So that would just be a normal course of doing business. We have that shared understanding with the countries."

The US has had that discussion with North Korea, and the two Koreas have discussed it, too, the spokeswoman said, adding, "That is our mutual understanding." (Yonhap)