Kim Jong-Un
Kim Jong-UnReuters

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he would be willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "under the right circumstances", but the White House later clarified that such a meeting is not on the horizon.

"If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it. If it's under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that," Trump told Bloomberg News in an interview.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer, however, said clarified that the U.S. would first need to see changes in North Korean behavior before a potential sit-down.

"We've got to see their provocative behavior ratcheted down immediately," Spicer said, according to CNN. "Clearly, the conditions are not there right now."

Spicer also offered an explanation for Trump's view, as he expressed to CBS on Sunday, that Kim is a "smart cookie."

"He assumed power at a young age when his father passed," Spicer said. "There was a lot of potential threats that could have come his way. He's managed to lead a country forward, despite the concerns that we and so many people have. He is a young person to be leading a country with nuclear weapons."

In the same CBS interview, Trump would not rule out the use of military force against North Korea, answering, "I don't know. I mean, we'll see” when asked about such a move.

Trump’s interview came following North Korea's latest missile test, which appeared to have failed.

On April 16, North Korea attempted to launch a missile - but it blew up in the sea. Experts claim they may also have publicly displayed an ICBM during a parade marking the 105th birthday of North Korea's founder.

On Monday, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus told "CBS This Morning" that he could not see a scenario in which Trump and Kim sat down face-to-face unless Pyongyang was willing to "disarm and give up what he's put in mountainsides across his country and give up his drive for nuclear capability and ICBMs."