The US secretary of state has made a second surprise visit to North Korea to finalise plans for a historic summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.
Mike Pompeo, who first travelled to North Korea as CIA chief in early April, is only the second sitting US secretary of state to visit the country. He arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday, for a visit aimed at securing the release of three Americans held in the North, and finalising details for the meeting between the US president and the North Korean leader.
Trump and Kim are expected to meet this month or early in June for talks that would have been nearly unthinkable a year ago, when the two mercurial leaders were trading barbs and Pyongyang tested a barrage of missiles.
“For decades, we have been adversaries. Now we are hopeful that we can work together to resolve this conflict,” Pompeo said on Wednesday, adding that “there are many challenges along the way”.