US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that he's hopeful working-level talks with North Korea will resume "very soon."
In remarks to The Economic Club of Washington DC, Pompeo also said he hopes there are "creative solutions to unlocking" the current impasse over dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program in exchange for sanctions relief.
"We hope that we can have working-level discussions starting again very soon, so that we can unlock the Rubik's Cube," he said, noting it is a difficult challenge for both sides.
"We hope that he can see his way clear, so we can get that brighter future that President Trump has talked about," the secretary added, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (AFP-Yonhap)
On any planning for a third summit between Trump and Kim, Pompeo said there's "nothing in the works."
Pompeo's comments come after Trump and Kim agreed to resume working-level talks when they held an impromptu meeting at the inter-Korean border on June 30.
North Korea has since warned that the talks' resumption will be contingent on whether Seoul and Washington go ahead with joint military exercises planned for next month.
Last week, the regime test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles. Pompeo dismissed them then as a negotiating tactic and said he anticipates talks will start again in a couple of weeks.
Asked if he was upset by the launches, Trump said, "Not at all."
Amid the attempts to keep diplomacy with North Korea alive, the State Department also urged North Korea to refrain from further "provocations."
Trump told Fox News last week: "We've been doing very well, but that doesn't mean that's going to continue."
Pompeo reiterated Washington's commitment to implementing UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea, describing the US as the "steward" for enforcing them.
Asked to offer his impression of the North Korean leader, whom he claimed he has spent more time with than any other American, the top US diplomat said: "He's bright. He has managed to rise to the level of leadership in a difficult environment where he was a very young man, when his time came."
"From my very first interaction with him, he's been very candid with me about the things that are important to him, the priority set and how the negotiations might proceed," Pompeo said. "He's now repeated that he's prepared to denuclearize. It's now time to execute."
Pompeo is scheduled to travel to Thailand on Tuesday to attend regional meetings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
There was speculation he could meet there with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, but Ri is reportedly skipping the event.
Pompeo declined to entertain a scenario where the US would lift sanctions on North Korea as long as it didn't build additional nuclear weapons, saying it was "too hypothetical." (Yonhap)