First, let's get a wrap up of Secretary Pompeo's meeting in Pyongyang, and what we know so far.
Our correspondent at South Korea's foreign ministry, Lee Ji-won, is on the line for us.
Ji-won what can you tell us?
Yes Devin. Secretary Pompeo said the two sides agreed to hold discussions on July 12 about the repatriation of the remains of some 200 American troops killed on the northern side of the peninsula during the Korean War. State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert added that this meeting will be held at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom, involving working-level officials including those from the Defense Department.
Pompeo also said the date could move by one or two days,... and the process will begin to develop in the days to come.
There were also discussions about shutting down a missile engine testing site in the North, something President Donald Trump had said the North promised to do so before.
Pompeo said they made progress on what the modalities would look like for the destruction of that facility.
He also said that the two have laid out a path for further negotiations at the working level so that the two teams can continue these talks.
The Secretary told reporters that they made progress in every element of their discussion,... but did not elaborate on whether a timeline has been set for North Korea's "complete denuclearization".
He simply said that a good deal of time was devoted to discussing that and the declaration of Pyongyang's nuclear and missile facilities.
And though Pompeo said there's still more work to be done,... he was confident that North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un are still equally committed in achieving denuclearization.
But Ji-won the North Koreans seem to have taken a different view, to say the least, about that meeting. Can you tell us more about that.
Devin, just hours after Pompeo wrapped up his third visit to the North, Pyongyang released a statement from an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesperson on its state-run media Korea Central News Agency, slamming the U.S. for what he called their "gangster-like" unilateral demands.
The statement said that Pyongyang had expected the U.S. side to offer constructive measures that would help build trust based on the spirit of their leaders' summit last month and that the North was also thinking about providing reciprocal measures.
However, it said that it could not help but feel regret about the attitude and stance the U.S. had.
It went on to say that it brought up constructive measures to carry out each of the articles in the Joint Statement signed by their leaders in Singapore,... including declaring the end of the Korean War, shutting down the test site for high-thurst engines to prove the suspension of its ICBM production and more.
