Pompeo to visit DPRK to cement Trump-Kim meeting consensus

WASHINGTON - The White House said Monday that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will head for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on July 5 for talks.

The State Department also confirmed the trip, saying the top US diplomat will travel to the East Asian nation Thursday through Saturday.

The trip came less than a month after US President Donald Trump met with the DPRK's top leader, Kim Jong Un, in Singapore on June 12.

In a press briefing, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said "to continue the ongoing and important work of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, Secretary Pompeo will be leaving for North Korea (DPRK) on July 5th to meet with the North Korean leader and his team."

Sanders said the United States was "continuing to make progress" in talks with the DPRK, and "there is great momentum right now for a positive change and we are moving together for further negotiations."

A US delegation led by Sung Kim, the US ambassador to the Philippines, reportedly met with DPRK officials at Panmunjom on the inter-Korea border Sunday to discuss the next steps on the implementation of the declaration signed at the Singapore summit.

Refusing to confirm earlier reports that the DPRK is continuing with its nuclear program, Sanders said "we're continuing to make progress."

According to the State Department's statement, during his stay in Pyongyang, Pompeo will "continue consultations and implement the forward progress made by President Trump and Chairman Kim in Singapore."

Earlier on Sunday, John Bolton, Trump's national security advisor, said Washington has a plan to dismantle the majority of the DPRK's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and that Pompeo will discuss with Pyongyang later in his visit.

Pompeo is also expected to meet the leaders of both Japan and the Republic of Korea in Tokyo between Saturday and Sunday "to discuss our shared commitment to the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK, as well as other bilateral and regional issues," the State Department said.

Pompeo will then head to Hanoi, where he is scheduled to meet senior Vietnamese officials, with whom the discussion will also center on the DPRK and other bilateral and regional issues.