US President Donald Trump has confirmed that his CIA director met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on a secret visit to Pyongyang, ahead of a planned summit between the two leaders.
"Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong-un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of summit are being worked out now," tweeted Mr Trump.
"Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!" he added.
Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of Summit are being worked out now. Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018
The tweet came after the Washington Post reported yesterday that Mr Pompeo made the trip over the first weekend of April.
The meeting was part of an effort to prepare for a historic meeting in the coming weeks between Mr Trump and Mr Kim, the paper said, quoting two people with direct knowledge of the trip.
The visit came shortly after Mr Pompeo was nominated to be US Secretary of State, the paper said.
Speaking yesterday in Florida where he was hosting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, Mr Trump said he had given his blessing to discussions aimed at formally ending the Korean War.
Setting the stage for a major breakthrough, he added that "a great chance to solve a world problem" was within reach on the Korean peninsula.
Mr Trump had also confirmed that Washington and Pyongyang had been in contact at "very high levels" and that "five locations" were being considered for his meeting with Mr Kim.
Mr Pompeo's visit provided the strongest sign yet about Mr Trump's willingness to become the first serving US President ever to meet a North Korean leader.
It comes as South Korea said it is considering how to change a decades-old armistice with North Korea into a peace agreement.
At the same time, old rivals North Korea and South Korea are preparing for their own summit, between Mr Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, on 27 April, with a bid to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War a major factor in talks.
South Korea and a US-led UN force are technically still at war with North Korea after the Korean War ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.
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US 'in direct talks' with North Korea over possible summit
The US-led United Nations Command, Chinese forces and North Korea signed the 1953 armistice, to which South Korea is not a party.
Such discussions between the two Koreas, and between North Korea and the US, would have been unthinkable at the end of last year, after months of escalating tension, and fear of war, over the North's nuclear and missile programmes.
But then Mr Kim declared in a New Year's speech his country was "a peace-loving and responsible nuclear power" and called for lower military tension and improved ties with the South.
He also said he was considering sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February, a visit that began a succession of steps to improve ties.
Mr Pompeo's visit to the North was arranged by South Korean intelligence chief Suh Hoon with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong Chol, and was intended to assess whether Mr Kim was prepared to hold serious talks, a US official said.
Mr Pompeo flew from a US air force base in Osan, south of Seoul, an official with the South's defence ministry said. The South's presidential office declined to comment on the trip.
Mr Trump has said he backed efforts between North and South Korea aimed at ending the state of war.
"People don't realise the Korean War has not ended," Mr Trump told reporters.
"It's going on right now. And they are discussing an end to the war. Subject to a deal, they have my blessing and they do have my blessing to discuss that."
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Mr Trump said he believed there was a lot of goodwill in the diplomatic push with North Korea, but added it was possible the summit - first proposed in March and which the president said could take place in late May or early June - may not happen.
If the summit did not happen, the United States and its allies would maintain pressure on North Korea through sanctions, he said.
Nevertheless, Mr Pompeo's conversations in North Korea had fuelled Mr Trump's belief that productive negotiations were possible, according to a US senior official briefed on the trip.
