SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The Latest on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s trip to Asia (all times local):
12:05 p.m.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have made “significant progress” toward an agreement for the North to give up its nuclear weapons.
Pompeo says that while significant work remains to be done, he expects further results after an as-yet unscheduled second summit between Kim and President Donald Trump. The American diplomat says a date and venue for next summit are to be set soon.
Pompeo spoke Monday to a small group of reporters in the South Korean capital of Seoul, which he visited after meeting with Kim in Pyongyang on Sunday. He said the nuclear effort is “a long process” and that significant progress has been made and more is expected.
He would not be specific but said he and Kim had agreed to begin shortly working-level talks on the nuts and bolts of denuclearization.
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11:50 a.m.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in says he expects North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to travel to Russia and for Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit North Korea soon amid a global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear crisis.
Moon’s comments on Monday came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Kim in Pyongyang to discuss the country’s nuclear disarmament and also setting up another meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump following their first summit in Singapore in June.
Moon says a second Trump-Kim summit could be accompanied by major diplomatic developments that could contribute to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and stabilizing peace.
Moon says there’s also a possibility of Kim holding a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
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9:30 a.m.
U.S. and North Korean officials are offering positive reviews for the latest meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
In Washington, President Donald Trump tweeted that he looked forward to meeting Kim again in the near future. The state-run Korean Central News Agency is calling the talks between Pompeo and Kim “productive and wonderful.”
Pompeo spent several hours in Pyongyang on his fourth visit to North Korea, saying Sunday he had a “good trip” and that he and Kim “continue to make progress on agreements made at the Singapore summit.”
Neither Pompeo nor North Korea offered details.
Pompeo is on the third stop of a four-leg Asia tour that began in Japan and is scheduled to end in China on Monday.
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5:30 p.m.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has wrapped up his fourth visit to North Korea after meeting Kim Jong Un to seek elusive progress in efforts to persuade him to give up his nuclear weapons.
Pompeo tweeted on his arrival in Seoul that he had met with Kim and that they “continue to make progress on agreements made at Singapore Summit.”
He said, “Thanks for hosting me and my team.”
Pompeo had flown to Pyongyang from Tokyo after talks there with Japan’s prime minister during which he pledged the Trump administration would coordinate and unify its strategy for denuclearization with allies. Japan has been wary of the initiative but South Korea has embraced it.
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