North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants economic help from the United States and security guarantees in exchange for denuclearization, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday.

Pompeo, who has met Kim in Pyongyang twice in recent weeks to prepare the groundwork for a summit with President Donald Trump, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the historic talks are "still scheduled for June 12" despite reports of differences between the two sides.

"We're optimistic that we can achieve an outcome that would be great for the world," Pompeo said.

In their most recent meeting two weeks ago, Pompeo said he and Kim talked about their mutual goals for the talks.

"We still have a lots of work to do to find common ground," Pompeo said.

But Kim "has shared candidly that he understands that economic growth for his people, the well-being of his people, depends on a strategic shift."

Pompeo said he made clear to Kim the US view of what steps Pyongyang needs to take, including verification work, in order to demonstrate "real denuclearization."

"He made clear it was important to him that when that time came, when those objectives had been achieved, he in turn would receive economic help from America in the form of private sector business's knowledge and know-how," Pompeo said.

Pompeo said Kim also "wanted security assurances from the world, the end of the status that sits between South and North Korea, with the eventual goal of a peace treaty."

Pompeo declined to answer a lawmaker's question on whether the Pentagon had dialed back its military drills with South Korea to assuage Kim's concerns.

But he added: "It is my view that we have made zero concessions to Chairman Kim to date and we have no intention of doing so."

Pompeo says US-North Korea summit 'up to Kim'
Washington (AFP) May 23, 2018 - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that a planned summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un depends at this moment on the North Korean leader.

Asked in a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee if the summit, tentatively planned for Singapore on June 12, will take place, Pompeo replied: "That decision will ultimately be up to Chairman Kim."

"He asked for the meeting, the president agreed to meet with him," Pompeo said. "I'm very hopeful that that meeting will take place."

US President Donald Trump warned Tuesday his landmark summit with Kim may be delayed, while insisting the North Korean leader was "serious" about denuclearization.

Pompeo would not predict whether a deal can be reached at the meeting, but said a "bad deal" is not an option.

He said the United States aims at "complete" denuclearization by North Korea before it provides any support for the country's economy, and that Washington wants that to happen quickly.

"The model that we have laid forth is a rapid denuclearization that will be total and complete," he said.

"We are not going to do trade for trade. We're not going to let this drag out. We're not going to provide economic relief until such time as we have an irreversible set of actions, not words, not commitments, undertaken by the North Korean regime," he said.

"When we get there, in exchange for that, we're prepared to do a great deal to help the North Korean people."

Asked what he means by "complete", Pompeo said denuclearization would encompass Pyongyang giving up its nuclear weapons capability, missile capability, and the technology behind those capabilities, including engines and systems associated with space launch vehicles.

It also includes, he said, "everything that is upstream from that:" the production of fissile material, and the technology, engineering, and research and development linked to that production.

But Pompeo said he could not answer directly when asked in the hearing if North Korea would be able to maintain a civilian nuclear program.

"We've said that it won't be appropriate for them to have the capacity to enrich" nuclear materials, he said.

He said a key part of negotiations will be creating a verification regime for denuclearization, which he said will be an international effort involving, among others, inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

He said "large teams" were already at work on the verification component of the process.

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Foreign media including S.Koreans head to N. Korea for nuke site shutdown
Beijing (AFP) May 22, 2018
Foreign journalists headed to North Korea on Tuesday to watch the promised destruction of its nuclear test site, a move seen as a goodwill gesture before a planned summit with the United States. Reporters from China, the US and Russia departed on a charter flight from Beijing, according to Chinese state broadcaster CGTN which is part of the contingent. The group will cover the demolition of the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site inside a mountain in the northeast of the country, which is scheduled ... read more