U.S. State Department said here on Sunday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday had briefed South Korea on his just concluded travel to the Democratic People' s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
According to a statement issued by State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, Pompeo visited Seoul on Oct. 7-8 and met with the country's president and foreign minister "to give a readout of his October 7 trip to Pyongyang."
Pompeo "briefed on his meeting with Chairman Kim, which included his introducing Chairman Kim to Special Representative for North Korea Biegun as his chief negotiator, plans for a second U.S.-DPRK summit, and discussions on achieving the commitments of the June Singapore Summit including the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK as committed to by Chairman Kim and President Trump," the statement read.
In a related development, the DPRK is demanding the United States take steps to secure Pyongyang's trust before its denuclearization.
"Without any trust in the U.S. there will be no confidence in our national security and under such circumstances there is no way we will unilaterally disarm ourselves first," DPRK's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told the UN General Assembly last week.
Pompeo and his South Korean counterpart "also re-affirmed their commitment to the U.S.-ROK Alliance and continued close coordination with Japan on a unified response to the DPRK."
According to an earlier statement also issued by Nauert, Pompeo, during his stay in Pyongyang, "held productive discussions" with the country's top leader Kim Jong Un on Sunday, when they discussed the four elements of the U.S.-DPRK Singapore Summit Joint Statement, the upcoming second summit between the two countries' top leaders, and options for the location and date of that next summit.
Pompeo and Kim also agreed to instruct their respective working-level teams to meet soon to intensify discussions on the key remaining issues to deliver on the Singapore statement, and Kim invited inspectors to visit the Punggye Ri nuclear test site to confirm that it has been irreversibly dismantled, the U.S. State Department said.
"President Trump looks forward to continuing to build upon the trust established with Chairman Kim in Singapore and anticipates meeting again soon," it added.
This has been his third tour to the DPRK since he became the U.S. secretary of state. He will also travel to Beijing, according to both China and the United States.
