Pompeo said a Pentagon team would be meeting with North Korean officials on or about July 12 at the border between North and South Korea to discuss the repatriation of remains and that working level talks would be held soon on the destruction of North Korea's missile engine testing facility.

In the days following his historic June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, Trump had announced that the return of the remains and the destruction of the missile facility had been completed or were in progress.

Pompeo, however, said that more talks were needed on both.

"We now have a meeting set up for July 12 — it could move by one day or two — where there will be discussions between the folks responsible for the repatriation of remains. (It) will take place at the border and that process will begin to develop over the days that follow," he said as he boarded his plane for Tokyo.

On the destruction of the missile engine plant, Pompeo said, "We talked about what the modalities would look like for the destruction of that facility as well, and some progress there as well, and then we have laid out a path for further negotiation at the working level so the two teams can get together and continue these discussions."

Earlier, Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol both said they needed clarity on the parameters of an agreement to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula that Trump and Kim Jong Un agreed to in Singapore. The trip was Pompeo's third to Pyongyang since April and his first since the summit.

Unlike his previous visits, which have been one-day affairs during which he has met with Kim Jong Un, Pompeo spent the night at a government guest house in Pyongyang and did not see the North Korean leader, although U.S. officials had suggested such a meeting was expected. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said no meeting had been planned.

As they began their talks on Saturday, Kim Yong Chol alluded to the fact that Pompeo and his delegation had stayed overnight in Pyongyang.

"We did have very serious discussions on very important matters yesterday," Kim said. "So, thinking about those discussions you might have not slept well last night."

Pompeo, who spoke with Trump, national security adviser John Bolton and White House Chief of staff John Kelly by secure phone before starting Saturday's session, replied that he "slept just fine." He added that the Trump administration was committed to reaching a deal under which North Korea would denuclearize and realize economic benefits in return.

Kim later said that "there are things that I have to clarify" to which Pompeo responded that "there are things that I have to clarify as well."

There was no immediate explanation of what needed to be clarified, but the two sides have been struggling to specify what exactly "denuclearization" would entail and how it could be verified to the satisfaction of the United States.

Pompeo and Kim met for nearly three hours Friday and then had dinner amid growing skepticism over how serious Kim Jong Un is about giving up his nuclear arsenal and translating the upbeat rhetoric following his summit with Trump into concrete action.</s>Washington's top diplomat faced an intense day of negotiations with his North Korean counterpart today as the old foes strive to flesh out a tentative nuclear disarmament plan.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was ensconced in an elegant Pyongyang guest house for a second day of talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's right-hand man Kim Yong Chol.

It was not clear if Pompeo would be granted an audience with the Northern leader himself as he tries to develop a detailed road-map towards the "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula, as agreed by Kim and US President Donald Trump last month.

But talks were expected to continue at a large guest villa in an official compound in Pyongyang, a short distance from the imposing mausoleum where North Korea's former helmsmen, Kim's grandfather and father, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il lie in state.

Pompeo, who is on his third visit to Pyongyang, began his diplomatic outreach to North Korea when he was still Trump's CIA director and remained the pointman on negotiations after the process became public and he became secretary of state.

Opening the talks after the US envoy arrived yesterday, his opposite number Kim Jong Chol joked to Pompeo that he must be getting used to the city by now.

"The more we meet, the deeper our friendship will be, I hope," he said, adding: "Today's meeting is really meaningful meeting." Pompeo replied: "Yes, I agree. I look forward to it and I count on it being very productive." In comparison to past international nuclear disarmament negotiations, and indeed to most major power diplomacy, the discussions between Washington and North Korea on thawing ties and dismantling the North's arsenal appear to be proceeding in reverse.

Last month, Kim and Trump met in Singapore and signed an historic joint statement committing Pyongyang to "work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula" in exchange for US "security guarantees" and lasting peace in the decades-old stand-off.</s>The North Korean Foreign Ministry has said this afternoon that talks with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo were "regrettable" and accused Washington of making "unilateral demands for denuclearisation."

The tough statement comes hours after Pompeo said progress with North Korea had been made "on almost all of the central issues" including denuclearisation, although he insisted that work still needed to be done.

Following two days of diplomatic talks in North Korea, Pompeo told reporters this morning that "a good deal of time" had been spent discussing a timeline for slowing down nuclear ambitions.

But just as Pompeo's trip to Pyongyang wrapped up, an unnamed spokesperson for the pariah states said that the outcome of the talks was "very concerning" because it has led to a "dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearisation that had been firm."

North Korea argued that unilateral demands on complete, verifiable and irrevisible denuclearisation (CVID) was betraying the spirit of last month’s unprecedented summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, which involved an historic handshake between the two leaders but was criticised for being short on detail.

The US secretary of state met with Kon Yong-chol, generally seen as Kim Jong-un’s right-hand man, in Pyongyang after delivering gifts from Trump which allegedly included an Elton John CD, in a joking reference to a low point in relations when the president called the North Korean dictator "little rocket man".

Read more: Trump has given Kim Jong-un a bizarre gift as denuclearisation talks begin

Prior to North Korea's comments this afternoon, Pompeo had said: "These are complicated issues but we made progress on almost all of the central issues. Some places a great deal of progress, other places there’s still more work to be done."

As well as progress towards halting North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Pompeo said that the two sides discussed "modalities" for the destruction of a missile engine testing facility, as well as agreeing to hold further talks on the repatriation of remains of Americans killed in the 1950-53 Korean War on 12 July.</s>TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brushed off North Korean accusations of "gangster-like" diplomacy during negotiations in Pyongyang, saying on Sunday he will pursue denuclearization talks after meeting his Japanese and South Korean counterparts.

Pompeo said in Tokyo there was still a lot of work to do but he was confident North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would stick to a commitment to abandon nuclear weapons he made during a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore last month.

Pompeo's meeting with Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha followed two days of talks in Pyongyang that ended on Saturday.

"When we spoke to them about denuclearization, they did not push back," Pompeo told a news conference. "The road ahead will be difficult and challenging and we know that critics will try to minimize the work that we've achieved."

Pompeo spoke after North Korea said the two days of talks with America's top diplomat "brought us in a dangerous situation where we may be shaken in our unshakable will for denuclearization, rather than consolidating trust between the DPRK and the U.S.".

The statement, which referred to the North's formal name of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), was carried by the official KCNA news agency on Saturday soon after Pompeo left Pyongyang.

Kim made a broad commitment in Singapore to "work toward denuclearization" but did not give details on how or when he would dismantle North Korea's nuclear program. Trump in turn offered security guarantees to Pyongyang and pledged a halt to large-scale military drills with South Korea.

North Korea's latest comments, which came after Pompeo said talks had made progress, are a reminder of the difficulties that previous U.S. administrations have had negotiating with the reclusive state and suggest Pyongyang may not agree to any rapid denuclearization.

Leaked U.S. intelligence findings concluded that North Korea does not intend to give up its nuclear program completely.

Trump has vowed that North Korea will not be allowed to threaten the United States with its ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. His meeting with Kim in Singapore came after months of often bitter rhetoric and threats.

Pompeo said he did not meet Kim on his latest visit to Pyongyang, as he had done twice before.

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said on Twitter there was a danger military action could be called for because Trump might now claim he had tried diplomacy but was betrayed by Kim.

"But a rushed summit and demands that NK denuclearize in short order or else is not a serious test of diplomacy," Haass tweeted.

Japan's Kono thanked Pompeo and said the three allies had reaffirmed a commitment to keeping sanctions on North Korea until it abandoned nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles of all ranges.

"We confirmed that security assurances will be provided to North Korea as agreed in the summit. At the same time we have reaffirmed that the international community will continue to fully implement relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions," Kono said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier heaped praise on Pompeo at his residence in Tokyo.

"I would like to pay my tribute to the strong leadership you have demonstrated in negotiating with North Korea," Abe told Pompeo. "This really shows the unwavering bond of the Japan-U.S. alliance."

South Korea's Kang said her country did not believe the United States had weakened its demands on Pyongyang.

"Secretary Pompeo's visit to Pyongyang this time has taken the first steps," she said. "We expect this to be followed up by further constructive and productive negotiations."

Pompeo said on Twitter after he met Kono he was in Tokyo to discuss the U.S. alliance with Japan and maintaining "maximum pressure" on North Korea, an expression Trump's administration had backed away from after the Singapore summit.

He said before leaving for Pyongyang he was seeking to "fill in" details on North Korea's commitments and maintain the momentum towards implementing the Singapore agreement between Trump and Kim.

U.S. intelligence officials earlier told Reuters Pompeo wanted to agree on at least an initial list of nuclear sites and an inventory that could be checked against available intelligence.

Pompeo said in Tokyo: "There is still much work to do to establish what the precise timeline of the various events will be," Pompeo said in Tokyo.

He said he had also pushed North Korea on a promise to destroy a missile engine test site and that the United States would like that to happen "soon".

Pompeo said talks had yielded an agreement to form a "working level" group to oversee day-to-day interactions between the United States and North Korea.

Officials from the two sides would meet next week in Panmunjom, on the border between the two Koreas, to discuss the return of the remains of the some 7,000 U.S. soldiers missing since the 1950-53 Korean War.

KCNA said Pyongyang had offered to discuss declaring a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War to mark next month's anniversary of the armistice agreement. It said the U.S. side had shown little interest, giving "certain conditions and excuses".

Pompeo also told Abe he had raised the issue of Japanese people abducted by North Korean agents in the 1960s and 1970s to train its spies.

In addition to demanding that North Korea agree to the complete, verifiable and irreversible abandonment of its nuclear weapons and missile programs, Abe has made the return of any abductees still in North Korea or a full disclosure of their fates a condition for providing any major economic assistance.

Pompeo also met South Korea's Kang separately in Tokyo before leaving for Vietnam on the next leg of his trip through Asia and Europe. They discussed inter-Korean relations, peace and complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the South Korean government said in a statement.</s>PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — The Latest on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to North Korea (all times local):

North Korea says high-level talks with a U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were "regrettable" and has accused Washington of trying to unilaterally pressure the country into abandoning its nukes.

The statement by an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman on Saturday came hours after Pompeo concluded two days of talks with North Korean officials led by Kim Yong Chol.

The statement says that the United States betrayed the spirit of last month's summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by making unilateral demands on "CVID," or the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea.

It says the outcome of the follow-up talks was "very concerning" because it has led to a "dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has wrapped up two days of talks with senior North Korean officials without meeting Kim Jong Un but with commitments for new discussions on denuclearization and the repatriation of the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War.

Before departing Pyongyang on Saturday, Pompeo told reporters that his conversations with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol had been "productive," conducted "in good faith" and that "a great deal of progress" had been made in some areas. But he stressed that "there's still more work to be done" in other areas, much of which would be done by working groups that the two sides have set up to deal with specific issues.

Pompeo said that a Pentagon team would be meeting with North Korean officials on or about July 12 at the border between North and South Korea to discuss the repatriation of remains and that working level talks would be held soon on the destruction of North Korea's missile engine testing facility.

North Korea's state media have reported the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a day after he arrived in Pyongyang but did not describe the nature of his talks with North Korean officials over the future of the country's nuclear weapons program.

Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday the U.S. delegation led by Pompeo will take part in high-level talks for carrying out agreements between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following their summit last month in Singapore.

The agency provided no further details.

Pompeo met for nearly three hours Friday with a senior North Korean official in Pyongyang to nail down specifics of commitments on denuclearization made at Trump's summit with Kim.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has begun his first trip to Pyongyang since President Donald Trump's summit with leader Kim Jong Un last month with a vow to nail down the specifics of the commitments Kim made on denuclearization.

Pompeo has the crucial task of dispelling growing skepticism over how seriously Kim is about giving up his nuclear arsenal and translate the upbeat rhetoric following the first meeting between leaders of the U.S. and North Korea into concrete action.

He was met at the Pyongyang airport by Kim Yong Chol, a senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, and Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho to begin his third visit since April and first since the June 12 summit.</s>US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has opened a second day of talks with senior North Korean officials, with both sides saying they need clarity on the parameters of an agreement to denuclearise the Korean peninsula.

On his third trip to Pyongyang since April and his first since last month’s historic summit between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Mr Pompeo was meeting Kim Yong Chol, a senior ruling party official.

Both men said they needed to “clarify” certain elements of their previous discussions, but provided no detail. A meeting between Mr Pompeo and Kim Jong Un later on Saturday is expected but not certain, US officials said.

Unlike his previous visits, which have been one-day affairs, Mr Pompeo spent the night at a government guest house in Pyongyang after a three-hour dinner with Kim Yong Chol, something the North Korean official alluded to in comments as they began their talks.

“We did have very serious discussion on very important matters yesterday,” Mr Kim said. “So, thinking about those discussions you might have not slept well last night.”

Mr Pompeo, who spoke with Mr Trump, national security adviser John Bolton and White House chief of staff John Kelly by secure phone before starting Saturday’s session, replied that he “slept just fine.”

He added that the Trump administration was committed to reaching a deal under which North Korea would denuclearise and realise economic benefits in return.

Mr Kim later said that “there are things that I have to clarify” to which Mr Pompeo responded: “There are things that I have to clarify as well.”

There was no immediate explanation of what needed to be clarified but the two sides have been struggling to specify what exactly “denuclearisation” would entail and how it could be verified to the satisfaction of the US.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters that the US remains “very firm” in its stance that three basic goals be met: complete denuclearisation of North Korea, security assurances, and the repatriation of remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean war.

“Our policy hasn’t changed,” she said when asked why US officials appear in public comments to have backed away from early demands that an agreement must cover “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation”.

“Our expectation is exactly what the president and Kim Jong Un jointly agreed to in Singapore, and that is the denuclearisation of North Korea,” Ms Nauert said, adding that “progress” towards that goal has been made. She did not elaborate.

Mr Pompeo and Mr Kim met for nearly three hours on Friday and then had dinner amid growing scepticism over how serious Kim Jong Un is about giving up his nuclear arsenal and translating the upbeat rhetoric following his June 12 summit with Mr Trump into concrete action.</s>North Korea calls talks with Pompeo ‘regrettable’ after he said ‘progress’ was made

In a face-to-face visit with hopes of putting meat on the bones after the historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spent two days in North Korea this week negotiating with counterparts. In a first, he even spent a night in a guesthouse belonging to the regime in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.

Later on Saturday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry called talks with Pompeo “regrettable.” A statement by an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said the U.S. betrayed the spirit of the summit by making unilateral demands on the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the country, The Associated Press reported.

Pompeo did not meet with Kim Jong Un while in North Korea or walk away with any significant developments on moving closer to its denuclearization. The trip was Pompeo’s third to North Korea this year, and it marked the first time he did not meet with the leader.

“I think we made progress in every element of our discussions,” Pompeo told reporters after he was asked if a timeline was set for denuclearization and if there was an agreement for the regime’s destruction of its nuclear program.

Pompeo, who was carrying out the first meeting between the U.S. and North Korea since Mr. Trump met with Kim Jong Un in Singapore last month, would not reveal any details on the progress he said was made. He didn’t cite any major breakthroughs.

Ahead of the visit, the State Department did not make promises about what Pompeo might walk away with. After the meetings, Pompeo admitted that certain areas of U.S.-North Korea negotiations still have a long way to go.

“These are complicated issues, but we made progress on almost all of the central issues,” Pompeo said. “Some places a great deal of progress. Other place(s) there’s still more work to be done.”

State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said there was never an expectation that Pompeo would meet with Kim, although other U.S. government officials previously indicated that was the plan. Pompeo never definitively said he would not meet with Kim.

Pompeo went to Pyongyang with a letter for Kim Jong Un from Mr. Trump. The last time the two leaders exchanged letters was in early June when Kim Yong Chol — the country’s former spy chief and now the vice chairman of the Workers’ Party Central Committee — brought a letter to the White House for Mr. Trump on behalf of the leader. Kim Yong Chol delivered that letter by hand and met with Mr. Trump for about two hours.

Pompeo pointed to an incremental development in North Korea’s commitment to return the remains of missing American soldiers. Department of Defense officials will meet with North Korean counterparts on July 12 to discuss the return of the remains. The conversations are based on a commitment that Kim Jong Un made last month during the Singapore summit. Last month Mr. Trump incorrectly stated that the remains were already sent to the United States.

Before Pompeo’s visit, U.S. officials had named the missile test engine site that the North Koreans agreed to destroy — a commitment that was also made at the Singapore summit. Pompeo spoke with his counterparts about this commitment, but details were lacking. Pompeo did not say there was an agreement to monitor that destruction or if there would be any kind of technical verification that the destruction actually happened.

Before Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol dove into Saturday’s long day of negotiations, Kim Yong Chol made some snarky comments as he sat with Pompeo in front of cameras.

“Thinking about those discussions you might have not slept well last night,” he said to Pompeo, referencing their close to three-hour meal the night before during which they discussed “very important matters.”

Pompeo told the North Korean negotiator that he “slept just fine.” Neither side revealed any details about the evening’s conversation.

Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol indicated that a significant distance remains between the two sides in terms of expectations and demands. They both said they had things to “clarify.”

Pompeo, who is now in Tokyo, is expected to meet with Japanese and South Korean counterparts to brief them on his visit.</s>PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrapped up two days of talks with senior North Korean officials on Saturday without meeting Kim Jong Un but with commitments for new discussions on denuclearization and the repatriation of the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War.

Before departing Pyongyang, Pompeo told reporters that his conversations with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol had been “productive,” conducted “in good faith” and that “a great deal of progress” had been made in some areas. But he stressed that “there’s still more work to be done” in other areas, much of which would be done by working groups that the two sides have set up to deal with specific issues.

Pompeo said that a Pentagon team would be meeting with North Korean officials on or about July 12 at the border between North and South Korea to discuss the repatriation of remains and that working-level talks would be held soon on the destruction of North Korea’s missile engine testing facility.

In the days following his historic June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, President Donald Trump had announced that the return of the remains and the destruction of the missile facility had been completed or were in progress.

Pompeo, however, said that more talks were needed on both.

“We now have a meeting set up for July 12 — it could move by one day or two — where there will be discussions between the folks responsible for the repatriation of remains. (It) will take place at the border and that process will begin to develop over the days that follow,” he said as he boarded his plane for Tokyo.

On the destruction of the missile engine plant, Pompeo said, “We talked about what the modalities would look like for the destruction of that facility as well, and some progress there as well, and then we have laid out a path for further negotiation at the working level so the two teams can get together and continue these discussions.”

Earlier, Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol both said they needed clarity on the parameters of an agreement to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula that Trump and Kim Jong Un agreed to in Singapore. The trip was Pompeo’s third to Pyongyang since April and his first since the summit.

Unlike his previous visits, which have been one-day affairs during which he has met with Kim Jong Un, Pompeo spent the night at a government guesthouse in Pyongyang and did not see the North Korean leader, although U.S. officials had suggested such a meeting was expected. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said no meeting with Kim Jong Un had been planned.

As they began their talks on Saturday, Kim Yong Chol alluded to the fact that Pompeo and his delegation had stayed overnight in Pyongyang.

“We did have very serious discussions on very important matters yesterday,” Kim said. “So, thinking about those discussions you might have not slept well last night.”

Pompeo, who spoke with Trump, national security adviser John Bolton and White House chief of staff John Kelly by secure phone before starting Saturday’s session, replied that he “slept just fine.” He added that the Trump administration was committed to reaching a deal under which North Korea would denuclearize and realize economic benefits in return.

Kim later said that “there are things that I have to clarify” to which Pompeo responded that “there are things that I have to clarify as well.”

There was no immediate explanation of what needed to be clarified, but the two sides have been struggling to specify what exactly “denuclearization” would entail and how it could be verified to the satisfaction of the United States.

Pompeo and Kim met for nearly three hours Friday and then had dinner amid growing skepticism over how serious Kim Jong Un is about giving up his nuclear arsenal and translating the upbeat rhetoric following his summit with Trump into concrete action.

On his flight to Pyongyang, Pompeo said both sides made commitments at the Singapore summit on the complete denuclearization of North Korea and on what a transformed relationship between their two countries might look like.

One hoped-for breakthrough on this trip would have been the return of the remains of U.S. troops killed during the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea committed at last month’s summit to the “immediate repatriation” of remains already identified, but that hasn’t happened yet.</s>Secretary of State Mike Pompeo finished two days of talks with senior North Korean officials in Pyongyang on Saturday, telling reporters that the two countries agreed to continue discussions on denuclearization and the repatriation of the remains of Americans killed during the Korean War.

The talks came amid growing concern among nuclear experts that North Korea is not taking steps toward denuclearization and uncertainty as to what President Trump and Kim Jong Un meant when they committed to it in Singapore last month.

Following Pompeo's remarks before departing Pyongyang, North Korea's foreign ministry said the talks with Pompeo were "regrettable" and accused the U.S. of making unilateral demands for denuclearization, The Associated Press reports.

"We expected that the U.S. side would come with productive measures conducive to building trust in line with the spirit of the North-U.S. summit and [we] considered providing something that would correspond to them," an unnamed foreign ministry spokesman said, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

"The U.S. just came out with such unilateral and robber-like denuclearization demands as [complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization], declaration and verification that go against the spirit of the North-U.S. summit meeting."

But Pompeo had said that his conversations with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol were "productive" and that he had made progress "on almost all of the central issues." U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo did not meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as he has done on two previous visits to North Korea this year.

Pompeo said Defense Department officials will meet with North Korean officials on July 12 at the Demilitarized Zone to discuss the repatriation of remains, which North Korea committed to last month. He also said that working level talks will begin soon on the destruction of a missile-engine testing facility.

When asked about reports that North Korea is building up sites tied to its nuclear weapons program, Pompeo insisted that Kim Jong Un is "still committed" to complete denuclearization.

"We talked about what the North Koreans are continuing to do and how it's the case that we can get our arms around achieving what Chairman Kim and President Trump both agreed to, which is the complete denuclearization of North Korea," Pompeo said.

Following the agreement signed at the Singapore summit, it appears that again North Korea and the U.S. have only committed to broad strokes and say that now the hard work is beginning, NPR's Seoul correspondent Elise Hu tells Weekend Edition Saturday. Before this trip, Pompeo said he was hoping to "fill in" some of the details on what North Korea committed to at the summit.

Kim Yong Chol said earlier Saturday that he and Pompeo conducted "very serious discussions on very important matters yesterday" but later added that "there are things that I have to clarify." Pompeo responded, "There are things that I have to clarify as well." Neither side disclosed those details.

The Trump administration has said it would take between 1 and 2 1/2 years to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program. But many nuclear and policy experts say it would take several years to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, if not decades.

"No, it cannot be done in one year. It's a very, very unrealistic plan," Sue Mi Terry, Korea an analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former CIA analyst, told Morning Edition on Friday, adding that just the process of verifying the full scope of North Korea's nuclear program "takes years, decades."</s>(Reuters) - U.S. and North Korean officials have set up working groups to deal with “nitty gritty stuff” including verification of efforts to achieve denuclearisation, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said on Saturday, the second day of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang.

The spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said Pompeo’s discussions with North Korean officials included the repatriation of the remains of Americans who died in the Korean War in the 1950s in addition to denuclearisation issues, according to a pool report by reporters accompanying Pompeo.

Pompeo left the negotiations venue to make a secure phone call to update President Donald Trump on the talks, the report said.

At talks with Kim Yong Chol, a top official in North Korea’s ruling party who had already met with Pompeo in New York, Pompeo said as he headed into the meeting that the aim of the United States was for “complete denuclearisation” of the North.

Kim did not comment on the issue of denuclearisation, saying only that there “are things I have to clarify.”

The Trump administration has said that if North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons program it could become a rich and successful country.

While there have been no nuclear or missile tests since the Singapore summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month, satellite imagery shows upgrades to the country’s Yongbyon nuclear plant.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls for North Korea to follow Vietnam's path in overcoming past hostilities with the United States.