U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with the right-hand man of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday in New York to discuss denuclearization, just days after Pyongyang hinted that it could resume building up its nuclear program if crippling sanctions are not lifted.
Pompeo will travel to New York with U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun to meet with Kim Yong Chol, the vice chairman of the North's Central Committee, the State Department said in a statement Monday.
"The Secretary and Vice Chairman Kim will discuss making progress on all four pillars of the Singapore Summit joint statement, including achieving the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK," the statement said, using the acronym for the North's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.