Pompeo to travel to N. Korea Thursday—White House

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (AFP)

SEOUL — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will head to North Korea this week to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and discuss detailed steps for North Korea’s denuclearization, the White House said.

“To continue the ongoing and important work of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, Secretary Pompeo will be leaving for North Korea on July 5 to meet with the leader and the team,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters at a regular press briefing.

After his third visit to North Korea, Pompeo will on Saturday head to Tokyo where, on the following day, he will hold talks with Japanese and South Korean officials to reaffirm their “shared commitment to the final, fully verified denuclearization” of North Korea, the State Department said.

It is the first visit to Pyongyang by a US official since Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a historic summit in Singapore on June 12, when North Korea committed to work toward “complete denuclearization“ and the US promised security guarantee.

To pave the way for Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang, Sung Kim, US ambassador to the Philippines, held talks with North Korean officials at the border village of Panmunjeom on Sunday.

“We are continuing to make progress. We had good meetings yesterday,” Sanders said.

The top US diplomat’s visit comes as Trump’s national security adviser said that the US has a plan that would lead to the dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs in a year.

There are also growing signs that Pyongyang does not intend to fully give up its nuclear arsenal as it tries to deceive the US about its nuclear stockpile, the Washington Post reported, citing US intelligence officials.

The White House refused to confirm or deny reports that Kim’s regime has stepped up its nuclear program since the Trump summit.

“I think a number of things have happened. One, in the last eight months you haven’t seen missile launches,” Sanders said, referring to North Korea’s testing of ballistic missiles until last year.

“You haven’t seen nuclear detonations. And again, these conversations are continuing to evolve. I’m not going to get into the details but I can tell you that progress continues to be made.”

Following his visit to Japan, Pompeo will travel to Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates and Belgium, where he will accompany US President Donald Trump at the NATO summit, the State Department said.