U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to have arrived in North Korea by now to meet with the regime's leader Kim Jong-un.
He's on the second leg of his Asia tour and will be looking to make progress on denulcearization.
For more, we connect to our Lee Ji-won at Seoul's foreign affairs ministry.
Ji-won , what's the latest?
Devin, early this morning, Secretary Pompeo tweeted that he was leaving for North Korea to meet with its leader Kim Jong-un, but we haven't heard any more from them yet.
The agenda, of course,... the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as well as preparations for the second North Korea-U.S. summit, the details of which Pompeo said might not be revealed immediately afterwards.
The denuclearization talks have stalled for a while, but there have been renewed hopes since the latest inter-Korean summit in which the North made some concrete promises, such as to dismante its key nuclear facility, SHOULD Washington take corresponding measures.
And there have been reports that the U.S. has started to understand North Korea's view that a declaration to end the Korean War is simply a political declaration... that would not require the U.S. to withdraw its troops in the South.
So with these developments, hopefully we can see some concrete agreements during Pompeo's fourth trip there.
Ji-won, this is Pompeo's second stop, his first being Tokyo. Tell us what came out of his visit to Japan.
Sure Devin, he met on Saturday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and foreign minister Taro Kono to discuss the North's nuclear issues and reaffirm their alliance.
Secretary Pompeo and Prime Minister Abe are expected to have exchanged views not just on Pyeongyang's nuclear weapons but also on its chemical and biological weapons program as well. Secretary Pompeo also said that in his talks with the North he will bring up the issue of the Japanese abductees.
And right after his talks in Pyeongyang, Secretary Pompeo is due to arrive in Seoul sometime this afternoon to brief South Korean President Moon Jae-in and foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha on his talks with Kim Jong-un.
Back to you Devin.
