The White House says U.S. President Donald Trump remains open to dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toward a "fully denuclearized" North Korea.

In an email to Seoul’s Yonhap News Agency on Friday, a White House official noted that during his first term in office, Trump held three historic summits with Kim, which helped stabilize the Korean Peninsula and achieved the first-ever leader-level agreement on denuclearization.

The official added that Trump still holds these objectives and remains open to engaging with the North.

The comments came in response to a question about the U.S. Treasury Department’s latest sanctions against a North Korean trading firm accused of sending IT workers to Vietnam, and three North Koreans allegedly involved in illegal fundraising for the regime.

The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted seven North Koreans for allegedly raising funds for the regime's nuclear and missile programs, while the State Department has offered rewards of up to 15 million U.S. dollars for information on them.

The South Korean news agency had asked whether these measures indicate that Washington currently sees diplomacy with Pyongyang as difficult for the time being.