Pompeo says US remains ready to resume talks with N. Korea

The Trump administration remains ready to resume talks with North Korea now, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday. However, he also said that he and the administration’s chief negotiator Stephen Biegun had hoped to meet with a senior North Korean official while in Bangkok for the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) forum.

No such meeting had been formally scheduled and the North’s foreign minister was not expected at the three-day event in the Thai capital, AP reported.

“We stand ready to continue our diplomatic conversation with the North Koreans,” Pompeo told reporters. “I regret that it looks like I’m not going to have the opportunity to do that while I’m here in Bangkok, but we’re ready to go.”

Pompeo said he believed a new round of working-level talks, led by Biegun and his North Korean counterpart, could happen soon.