Trump to meet top North Korea nuclear negotiator in Washington

U.S. President Donald Trump is meeting Friday with North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol to discuss negotiations on the country’s pledge to denuclearize, the White House said.

The meeting in the Oval Office at the White House was due at 12:15 p.m. (1715 GMT), Trump’s spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

“They will discuss relations between the two countries and continued progress on North Korea’s final, fully verified denuclearization,” she said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Kim on Friday morning.

Pompeo and Kim did not respond to shouted questions as they posed for pictures before entering a meeting room at a hotel in Washington.

Pompeo was accompanied by Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea.

Trump has spoken several times of prospects for a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un early this year. He’s also exchanged several letters with Kim despite little tangible progress on a vague denuclearization agreement reached at their historic first meeting last June in Singapore.