The U.S. has an "obligation" to pursue a diplomatic solution with North Korea, and there is a "real opportunity" for progress, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview broadcast Sunday.
According to Pompeo, the U.S.' objective remains the "complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization" of North Korea.
"We're going to require those steps – we use the word irreversible with great intention. We're going to require those steps that demonstrate that denuclearization is going to be achieved. We're not going to make promises. We're not going to take words. We're going to look for actions and deeds. And until such time, the president has made it incredibly clear we will keep the pressure campaign in place until we achieve that," Pompeo told ABC, saying that there is a "real opportunity" for progress.
"We have an obligation to engage in diplomatic discourse to try and find a peaceful solution so that Americans aren't held at risk by Kim Jong Un and his nuclear arsenal."
America's top diplomat also said he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held in-depth talks about a denuclearization "mechanism" when they met over Easter weekend.
"We talked a great deal about what it might look like, what this complete, verifiable, irreversible mechanism might look like," Pompeo said.
Seoul reported Sunday that North Korea has promised to shut its atomic test site within weeks and invite American weapons experts to verify its closure.
Kim also said he "would soon invite experts of South Korea and the U.S. as well as journalists to disclose the process to the international community with transparency," Seoul's presidential spokesman Yoon Young-chan added.
"Kim said 'the U.S. feels repelled by us, but once we talk, they will realize that I am not a person who will fire a nuclear weapon to the South or the U.S. or target the US'," according to Yoon.
The North Korean leader reported added: "If we meet often (with the U.S.), build trust, end the war and eventually are promised no invasion, why would we live with the nuclear weapons?"
Kim also slammed speculation that the North's Punggye-ri nuclear test site was already unusable after an underground tunnel there reportedly collapsed.
"As they will see once they visit, there are two more tunnels (at the test site) that are even bigger... and they are in good condition," he was quoted as saying.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with Kim in a historic summit, agreeing on Friday to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
An armistice brought the fighting on the Korean peninsula to an end in 1953, but 65 years later, a final peace agreement has still not been reached.
The Moon-Kim meeting has raised expectations for U.S. President Donald Trump's own planned summit with the North Korean leader, the date and location of which have not yet been finalized.
