After a series of diplomatic events on North Korea and its denuclearization, it's been confirmed that Washington's top diplomat will be heading to North Korea next month.
Mike Pompeo hopes to make progress on dismantling the regime's nuclear program AND prepare for a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Lee Ji-won has more.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be traveling to North Korea in October in a fresh bid to breathe life into the stalled talks between Pyeongyang and Washington.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert confirmed the trip on Wednesday shortly after Secretary Pompeo's meeting with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

She said Pompeo accepted the North Korean leader's invitation to travel to Pyeongyang next month to make further progress on the implementation of the Singapore declaration, including the final, fully verified denuclearization of the North, as well as to prepare for a second summit between the two leaders.

The trip would be Pompeo's fourth to North Korea, which was initially planned for August until it got canceled by President Trump as he thought there hadn't been enough progress made on denuclearization.

Pompeo also tweeted about his "very positive" meeting with his North Korean counterpart.
He uploaded two pictures of them, shaking hands and talking,... and said they discussed the upcoming summit and the next steps towards the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Pompeo added that much work remains, but they will continue to move forward.

This comes just hours after Pompeo gave an interview to CBS, where he said the U.S. is working to get the conditions right so it can accomplish as much as possible during the second summit.
He added that the summit may happen in October, but it's more likely to happen sometime after that.

President Trump has also been repeatedly saying during his trip to the UN that he will be meeting with Kim Jong-un soon.
He said their second meeting will take place much like their first, except for the location.
The two leaders had their historic first-ever North Korea-U.S. summit in Singapore in June.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.