During a swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. State Department, the country's new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo promised to not repeat the mistakes of past adminstrations.... and called on the immediate dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program.
Our Kim Mok-yeon starts us off.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has stressed that North Korea must commit to a swift dismantling of its weapons programs.
Pompeo outlined his priorities while speaking at his ceremonial swearing-in on Wednesday,... highlighting the importance of Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear weapons as well as its ballistic missiles.
"We are committed to the permanent, verifiable, irreversible dismantling of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction program and to do so without delay."
Pompeo,... who secretly met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang in early April,... also said that efforts to denuclearize North Korea are still in the beginning stages,... with their outcome yet unknown.
He also stressed that the Trump administration is fully committed to solving the North's nuclear issue.
"This administration will not repeat the mistakes of the past. Our eyes are wide open. It's time to solve this once and for all. A bad deal is not an option."
Meanwhile,... the South Korean and U.S. military revealed on Thursday that movement has been spotted at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site, where the regime carried out a total of six nuclear tests from 2006.
Intelligence sources say that activity at tunnel entrance number 3 suggests Pyongyang could be signalling that it has started to follow through on Kim Jong-un's promise made at the inter-Korean summit last week to shut down the test site.
This follows a report by CBS News on Wednesday that said North Korea has started removing cables from the tunnels at the site, describing it as a first step to closing down the tunnels.
Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang News.
