Politics

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet Kim Jong Un on July 5, White House says

Key Points
  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to North Korea on July 5 to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
  • Pompeo will travel to Pyongyang on July 5 "to continue consultations and implement the forward progress made by President Trump and Chairman Kim in Singapore," the State Department said.
  • More than a dozen officials told NBC News that they believe North Korea has been producing more fuel for nuclear weapons at secret locations in recent months.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in this May 9, 2018 photo released on May 10, 2018 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang.
KCNA | Reuters

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to North Korea on July 5 to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday.

The event this week will be at least the second known meeting between Pompeo and Kim. The two men will meet "to continue the ongoing and important work of denuclearization on the Korean peninsula," Sanders said at a press briefing.

The meeting will take place less than a month after Donald Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to meet face-to-face with a North Korean leader during a summit on denuclearization in Singapore. During those talks, Trump and Kim signed an agreement that outlined a commitment toward denuclearizing North Korea and creating a lasting "peace regime" on the peninsula.

Pompeo sets the stage for US-North Korea summit
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Pompeo sets the stage for US-North Korea summit

Trump called the document "very comprehensive," although it was unclear what concessions or commitments Kim ultimately signed on to.

Even still, Trump assured Americans after the summit that North Korea is "no longer a nuclear threat."

Trump tweet threat

U.S. intelligence agencies reportedly disagreed. More than a dozen officials told NBC News that they believe North Korea has been producing more fuel for nuclear weapons at secret locations in recent months.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo will travel to Pyongyang on July 5 "to continue consultations and implement the forward progress made by President Trump and Chairman Kim in Singapore."

Pompeo will then travel to two different countries to discuss denuclearization with other stakeholders in the ongoing negotiations with North Korea, she said in a statement to CNBC.

On July 7, Pompeo will depart for Tokyo to discuss North Korean denuclearization and "other bilateral and regional issues" with leaders from Japan and South Korea. He will then fly to Hanoi, Vietnam, to discuss denuclearization with Vietnamese leaders.

Pompeo will also visit Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Brussels, Belgium to accompany Trump to the NATO summit from July 11 to 12.

WATCH: Pompeo says N. Korea willing to denuclearize

Pompeo: North Korea is willing to denuclearize
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Pompeo: North Korea is willing to denuclearize