NEW YORK, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. State Department said on Tuesday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Pyongyang next month to discuss a second summit between the leaders of the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Pompeo, in his meeting with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho of the DPRK earlier on the same day, accepted DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un's invitation to travel to Pyongyang next month, according to a statement issued by State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert.
Pompeo's travel aims "to make further progress on the implementation of the commitments from the U.S.-DPRK Singapore summit, including the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK, and to prepare for a second summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim," the statement read.
Pompeo earlier tweeted that his meeting with Ri was "very positive."
Also on Wednesday, Pompeo said in an interview with CBS News in New York that the second meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and the DPRK's top leader, Kim Jong Un, "may happen in October, but more likely sometime after that."
At the conclusion of the historic Trump-Kim summit in June in Singapore, the two sides issued a joint statement, agreeing to improve bilateral relations and work together to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the peninsula.
However, U.S.-DPRK talks have been stuck in an impasse due to their differences over the scale of denuclearization, U.S. sanctions, and whether to issue a war-ending declaration.
In August, just one day after Pompeo announced his visit to the DPRK, Trump tweeted that he had asked Pompeo not to go due to the insufficient progress with the DPRK.
During his Sept. 18-20 trip to Pyongyang, Moon held talks with Kim, and signed the Pyongyang Declaration, an advancement towards the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization and concrete measures to end hostile acts near the inter-Korean border areas.
Pompeo said later in response that the United States is ready to transform its relations with the DPRK immediately.
He added that he had invited Ri Yong Ho to meet in New York City where they were scheduled to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting.
