US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets in New York this week, the top aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in a further step toward repairing the relationship between Washington and Pyongyang.
Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday that he would meet General Kim Young-shul, but did not say on which day he would meet with the official, who he described as his "counterpart" of North Korea.
Pompeo said he was "not worried" about Pyongyang's warning hours ago that it was "seriously" considering a return to its previous strategy of developing its nuclear arsenal.
Pompeo is likely to hold his meeting with the North Korean official midweek, as Monday and Tuesday are dominated by the mid-term elections.
"We will have a good opportunity to continue the debate on North Korea's nuclear disarmament," he said.
General Kim Young-chul, a top aide to the North Korean leader, has been Washington's main interlocutor since the United States resumed its dialogue with North Korea.
The North Korean general met in the spring of Pompeo before he was received by US President Donald Trump at the White House.
Before the meeting, General Kim conveyed a letter to Trump from the North Korean leader, days before the historic summit that brought together the two leaders in Singapore on June 12.
During their historic summit, Kim and Trump signed a vague declaration on nuclear disarmament, but the negotiations have made no significant progress since then.
The United States, which has been at the forefront of international efforts since 2017 to pressure the North Korean economy, has refused to ease sanctions on the North Korean regime as long as it has not "fully and fully verifiable nuclear disarmament."
On Saturday, North Korea warned the United States that it was "seriously" considering resuming its strategy to develop its nuclear program if economic sanctions were not lifted.
