America's spy chief insists Donald Trump has his eyes “wide open” to the risks of a face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
CIA director Mike Pompeo also said the president “isn’t doing this for theatre, he is going there to solve a problem”.
Critics have warned the planned summit - the first ever meeting between a sitting US president and North Korean leader - could backfire if negotiations fail.
But Mr Pompeo said it is the perfect time to open talks as the Pyongyang regime has been battered by US sanctions.
“Never before have we had the North Koreans in a position where their economy was at such risk, where their leadership was under such pressure,” he told Fox News.
By accepting the North’s offer for talks Mr Trump even took his own administration by surprise. But Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin also backed the gamble last night, stressing the “clear” objective was to get rid of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.
The US was confident there would not be a missile or nuclear test ahead of a meeting, he added.
South Korean envoys were today briefing the Chinese and Japanese governments on the proposed negotiations amid concern on Capitol Hill that Mr Trump may be in over his head.
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren said she feared the “decimated” US state department lacked officials familiar with North Korea’s methods.
Last month Mr Trump put forward a proposal to slash state department funding by a quarter from about $53.1 billion (£38.3 billion) a year to $39.3 billion (£28.3 billion). More than a year after his election he is yet to nominate about 30 ambassadors — including a permanent one for South Korea.
The US and North Korea do not have formal diplomatic relations.
Ms Warren said: “I want to see our president succeed because if he succeeds, America succeeds. The world is safer. But I am very worried that they’re going to take advantage of him.”
No date or place has been set for the meeting with Kim, despite initial reports it would be by the end of May. At a weekend rally for a Republican candidate in Pennsylvania the president said: “Hey, who knows what’s going to happen? I may leave fast or we may sit down and make the greatest deal for the world.”
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Mr Trump’s administration has proposed “rigorous” weapons training for some teachers and school staff following the Florida school shooting that left 17 dead. But it appeared to backtrack on his claim that he would support raising the minimum age for buying guns from 18 to 21.
The White House also plans to back legislation to improve criminal background checks on gun buyers. Education secretary Betsy DeVos will chair a commission to recommend policy. It follows last month’s deadly attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School by former student Nikolas Cruz, 19.
