North Korea says talks with Pompeo ‘regrettable’: report

North Korea is reportedly criticizing talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, calling the two days of meetings that ended Saturday “regrettable.”

An unnamed spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry in a statement accused the U.S. of unilaterally pressuring North Korea to denuclearize and “betraying the spirit” of the summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un last month, according to The Associated Press.

{mosads}The statement said the discussions with Pompeo were “very concerning,” and suggested that the country is no longer as willing to give up its nukes as it had previously been.

Pompeo offered a differing view of the two days of talks, telling reporters that the conversations were “productive,” “in good faith,” and that “a great deal of progress” had been made, according to the AP

He told reporters “we made progress on almost all the central issues,” noted State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert on Twitter.

Just before leaving Pyongyang, ⁦@SecPompeo⁩ gives US reporters a brief readout from his meetings. “These are complicated issues but we made progress on almost all the central issues. Some places, a great deal of progress, other places, there’s still more work to be done.” pic.twitter.com/wiP0J1447N

— Heather Nauert (@statedeptspox) July 7, 2018

The discussions came weeks after Trump and Kim signed an agreement committing the U.S. to unspecified security guarantees in exchange for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. Trump critics said the deal was too advantageous to North Korea and did not secure enough for the U.S. 

The agreement lacked specifics and the secretary’s trip to Pyongyang this weekend was intended to discuss details of the deal. Pompeo met with multiple senior North Korean officials, including Kim’s right-hand man, Kim Yong Chol, but did not meet with Kim during this trip.

— Updated 9:48 a.m.