"To continue the ongoing and important work of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, Secretary Pompeo will be leaving for North Korea on July 5th to meet with the North Korean leader and his team," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters at a Monday briefing.
Pompeo previously visited North Korea in early April and then again for a second time in early May when he was returning to the US with three Americans who'd been held hostage in the country. The 54-year-old California native will also meet with both Japanese and South Korean officials from July 7 to 8 while in Tokyo.
The White House has also remarked that it's continuing to make progress on the matter of denuclearizing North Korea. Pompeo is also expected to, possibly, secure the remains of US soldiers killed during the Korean War.
Meanwhile, nearly three weeks after US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met in Singapore, the Washington rumor mill is spouting talk that the two might be meeting up again soon.
The second round of talks, speculation has it, would be held in New York this September as world leaders begin to trickle into the Big Apple for the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, AXIOS reported Monday, citing unnamed US officials.
But before the bubbly can be brought out to celebrate the occasion, officials told the outlet that North Korea would have to show some serious progress toward fulfilling its denuclearization promises.
The latest revelation comes a day after Trump remarked in an interview that it was possible the deal struck between the US and North Korea in June may not "work out."
"I made a deal with him, I shook hands with him," Trump told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo of his meeting with Kim. "I really believe he means it. Now, is it possible — have I been in deals, have you been in things where people didn't work out? It's possible."
However, before completely walking back his June declaration that the North's nuclear ambitions had ended, POTUS went on to state that he was generally optimistic about the country's prospects.
"I really believe North Korea has a tremendous future. I got along really well with Chairman Kim. We had a great chemistry," he added.
Though some US officials are hopeful for Trump-Kim Round Two, there is still speculation by US intelligence that Kim will continue to expand his nuclear arsenal at secret sites while seeking concessions from the US, according to a recent report from NBC News.
"There's no evidence that they are decreasing stockpiles or that they have stopped their production," one US official told the outlet. "There is absolutely unequivocal evidence that they are trying to deceive the US."
Days before the much-anticipated Trump-Kim meeting, North Korea destroyed a missile testing facility that is believed to be the site where the Hwasong-15 long-range missile was tested.
White House national security adviser John Bolton told reporters that the Trump administration is "very well aware of North Korea's patterns of behavior over decades of negotiating with the United States," CBS News reported.
"We know exactly what the risks are, of them using negotiations to drag out the length of time they have to continue their nuclear, chemical, biological weapons programs, ballistic missiles," Bolton continued. "The president would like to see these discussions move promptly to get a resolution."
