Our top story this morning..
America's top diplomat is stressing that North Korea and the United States are still working hard to open a more promising future for the North,... despite the breakdown of their recent summit in Hanoi.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
In an interview with KCMO, a radio station based in his home state of Kansas,... U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Pyeongyang and Washington are trying to get the (quote) "sequencing" right in talks to end the North's nuclear weapons program,... while at the same time opening a brighter future for the country.
His remarks on Monday came in the wake of North Korea's threat to walk away from the talks,... as the regime called for a step-by-step dismantlement of its nuclear program,... in exchange for U.S. concessions,... including sanctions relief.
When asked about the failure to produce an agreement at last month's North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi,... Pompeo said he couldn't say much about the details of the negotiations as they were "important private conversations",... but did say it had to do with a range of issues around the timing and sequencing of how denuclearization is to be achieved.
Pompeo, however, remains optimistic over the prospect of achieving the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, despite the recent setback in Vietnam.
He said conversations will certainly continue,... noting it was North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's "promise" to the world at his first summit with President Trump in Singapore,... that the North will indeed abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.
