Pompeo says ‘a lot of work’ ahead for North Korea, US nuke talks

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that there is still significant work to be done as the U.S. and North Korea begin renewed nuclear talks this weekend in Sweden.

“We are mindful this will be the first time that we’ve had a chance to have a discussion in quite some time and that there remains to be a lot of work that will have to be done by the two teams,” Pompeo said, according to Reuters.

“But we hope these initial meetings can set the course for a set of dialogues that can take place in the coming weeks and months that will really deliver on the commitments that were made in Singapore,” he added.

Pompeo made the remarks at a press conference in Athens, Greece, during his tour of southern Europe, Reuters noted.{mosads}

U.S. and North Korean negotiators are meeting this weekend on the outskirts of Stockholm to discuss Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

The meeting is the first working discussion between the two countries about nuclear weapons since President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to restart negotiations at a meeting in June.

The U.S. delegation is reportedly led by U.S. special representative to North Korea Stephen Biegun, who was expected to meet with Kim Myong Gil, North Korea’s chief negotiator.

Despite coming to the table for talks, North Korea on Thursday fired a short- to medium-range ballistic missile from its southern Wonsan Bay that landed in the Sea of Japan.

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman, at the time, called the missile launch “unnecessarily provocative and not helpful in an effort to get the North Koreans back on a diplomatic path.”