U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced hope Friday for a second summit between the U.S. and North Korea "before too long," but added there was still work to do.
Both sides have floated the possibility of a second meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to move forward negotiations to dismantle the regime's nuclear weapons program.
Following an impasse over what denuclearization entails, the talks appeared to be back on track this week, helped largely by a third summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim.
"I'm hopeful that I get a chance to travel again to Pyongyang to continue these negotiations before too long," Pompeo said in an interview with MSNBC. "And then before too long ... I hope the two leaders get together again to continue to make progress on this incredible important issue for the entire world."
In a separate interview with Fox News, the top U.S. diplomat said the conditions would need to be right.
"We're working on it. But there's still a little bit of work to do left to make sure the conditions are right and that the two leaders are put in a position where we can make substantial progress," he said.
Trump and Kim held their first summit in Singapore in June.
At that meeting, the first between a U.S. and North Korean leader, Kim committed to work toward "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S. (Yonhap)