"North Korea is acting in an unsafe way not only toward Japan, China, and South Korea, but the entire world," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. | Win McNamee/Getty Images White House: Trump stance on North Korea has 'not changed'

President Donald Trump's outlook on North Korea remains unchanged, the White House announced Tuesday, shortly after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to soften his stance by saying the U.S. is ready to engage in discussions with Pyongyang "without precondition."

"The President's views on North Korea have not changed. North Korea is acting in an unsafe way not only toward Japan, China, and South Korea, but the entire world," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement, according to a press pool report. "North Korea's actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea."


The statement came as a direct response to remarks made by Tillerson at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., earlier Tuesday.

The nation's top diplomat offered a public invitation to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his government to put aside ongoing tensions regarding the nation's expanding weapons tests and meet to discuss a bilateral resolution.

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"We are ready to have the first meeting without precondition," Tillerson said. "Let's just meet, and we can talk about the weather if you want. Talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table, if that's what you are excited about. But we can at least sit down and see each other face to face, and then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards."

The White House has taken a more aggressive stance toward North Korea, with Trump threatening in August to respond with "fire and fury" should the foreign state continue its military provocations. In late November, Trump again derided Kim during a rally in Missouri, calling him a “sick puppy” and addressing him as "lil' rocket man."

The remarks out of the White House and State Department come amid speculation that Tillerson's time as secretary of state may be coming to a close.

During a town hall with State Department employees on Tuesday, his second such meeting since entering office, Tillerson took policy stances that appeared to create distance between himself and the West Wing. He also conceded that the department has yet to score any major diplomatic “wins.”

“Diplomacy is not that simple," Tillerson said, commenting on the difficult nature of international affairs.

Tillerson was also asked whether he enjoys his role leading a department whose culture and work he acknowledged he had limited familiarity with upon entering office.

“I am learning to enjoy it,” he said, with a laugh.