Pompeo’s meeting with North Korean officials postponed

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Thursday meeting with a top North Korean official has been postponed, the State Department said.

A statement early Wednesday from department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the New York meeting will now take place at an unspecified “later date.”

“We will reconvene when our respective schedules permit,” she said. “Ongoing conversations continue to take place. The United States remains focused on fulfilling the commitments agreed to by President Trump and Chairman Kim [Jong Un] at the Singapore Summit in June.”

The statement did not elaborate on the reason for the postponement, which was announced while most of the United States was focused on Tuesday’s midterm election results.

Pompeo was expected to travel to New York with the Trump administration’s special representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, to meet with Kim Yong Chol, former head of North Korea’s spy agency who has been leading nuclear talks for North Korea.

The purpose of the meeting was to “discuss making progress on all four pillars of the Singapore Summit joint statement, including achieving the final, fully verified denuclearization” of North Korea, according to a Monday statement from the State Department.

On Sunday, Pompeo said he expected to make “real progress” at the meeting.

“I’m confident that we’ll advance the ball again this week when I’m in New York City,” he said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

Progress on North Korea’s denuclearization has stalled since Kim and Trump met in Singapore in June. The two leaders have expressed interest in holding a second summit, which Trump said last month would have to take place after the midterm elections.