By Sibel Ugurlu
ANKARA (AA) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said he had “good, productive conversations ” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his meeting in Pyongyang, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Pompeo then traveled to Seoul to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.
“As President [Donald] Trump said, there are many steps along the way and we took one of them today. It was another step forward, ” said Pompeo in his meeting with South Korean leader.
“So, this is, I think, a good outcome for all of us, ” Pompeo said.
Pompeo thanked South Korea for its role in the negotiations with the Pyongyang administration about nuclear weapons.
Moon said the world's eyes “are on the outcome ” of their meeting.
“Today is a very important day for the U.S. as well as South and North Korea, ” Moon said. “I hope Secretary Pompeo's North Korea visit and the upcoming second U.S.-North Korea summit will create good momentum for a breakthrough in the denuclearization and irreversible progress in the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. ”
In a tweet, Pompeo later said: “We continue to make progress on agreements made at Singapore Summit. Thanks for hosting me and my team @StateDept. ”
The U.S. President Donald Trump also tweeted about Pompeo's visit to Koreas.
“@SecPompeo had a good meeting with Chairman Kim today in Pyongyang. Progress made on Singapore Summit Agreements! I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim again, in the near future, ” Trump sad.
In June, Trump offered a brighter economic future to North Korea and the lifting of sanctions, on the condition that Kim would verifiably denuclearize his country.
Dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang subsequently broke down over a lack of progress, and apparent reluctance on the part of the U.S. to agree to simultaneous measures such as officially ending the Korean War in advance of the North's denuclearization.