Pompeo to meet with ROK, Japanese diplomats on DPRK

WASHINGTON -- US State Department said here on Monday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to New York on Friday to discuss with diplomats from the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan the latest regarding the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

In a statement issued by Heather Nauert, the Department's spokesperson, Pompeo will meet with his ROK counterpart Kang Kyung-wha and Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations Koro Bessho, to "discuss the latest on the DPRK."

He will also meet with US UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, members of the UN Security Council, as well as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss a range of issues, including "preparations for the UN General Assembly High-Level week in September and UN reform."

Pompeo said on Sunday that both the US and the DPRK representatives agreed earlier on the same day to restart field operations in the Asian nation to search for the estimated 5,300 Americans missing in the 1950-1953 Korean war.

Meanwhile, working-level meetings between the two countries' officials would begin on Monday to coordinate the next steps, including the transfer of the remains already collected in the DPRK, he said.

As part of the outcomes of the US-DPRK leaders' Singapore summit in mid-June, Pyongyang and Washington agreed to commit to recovering the remains of the US war dead and those missing in action during the war, including an immediate repatriation of those already identified.