On March 8, the White House announced President Trump had accepted an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to meet for negotiations over its nuclear program. The invitation was conveyed by South Korean officials in a meeting with President Trump, with the meeting scheduled to take place by May. The announcement came as a surprise to many, given high U.S.-DPRK tensions and that no sitting American president has met a North Korean leader. The highest-level sitting American official to meet with a North Korean leader was Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, who visited Pyongyang in 2000.