US North Korea Talks

In recent weeks North Korea has carried out a series of tests of short-range missiles

Trump and Kim met again at the Korean border in late June and agreed to resume negotiations

Trump's personal engagement with Kim has been praised as a bold diplomatic bid to break a decadeslong cycle of threats and failed diplomacy that has left the US mired in an unresolved conflict

Pompeo said he and Kim had gotten "pretty close" to fixing the logistics for the summit but stressed that "sometimes that last inch is hard to close"

The two sides agreed to "continue talks to decide on the specific time and location for the second summit," Pompeo told South Korean President Moon Jae-in

Pyongyang apparently wants to first achieve an official end to the seven-decade state of war with South Korea, while Washington wants to start immediately on the long process of denuclearisation

Pompeo said negotiators discussed the idea of a full declaration of North Korean weapons of mass destruction stockpiles and setting a timeline for giving them up

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was on a two-day visit to North Korea, said that there was progress being made on North Korea's denuclearisation exercise

The Kremlin leader said last month that his own proposed meeting with Trump was not working out for now and was beset by problems

On Thursday Trump said the meeting with Kim could go ahead after all -- and would "likely" happen on the originally scheduled date of June 12 in Singapore

Asked about the location of the potential venues, Trump confirmed that they were outside the US

Tillerson rejected any proposal calling for a "freeze" on US-South Korean military exercises in order to get talks started

Tillerson said on Tuesday the United States was ready to talk any time North Korea would like to talk