File Photo: Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un (R) and U.S. President Donald Trump take a walk during their summit meeting in Singapore on June 12, 2018. (Xinhua/Ministry of Communication and Information of Singapore)
WASHINGTON, July 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department said here Tuesday it will not provide a timeline for the abandonment of nuclear and missile program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Earlier on Sunday, John Bolton, national security advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, said Washington has had a plan to dismantle the majority of the DPRK's nuke and ballistic missile programs, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be discussing it with Pyongyang while visiting the country.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said that "in terms of a timeline, I know some individuals have given timelines. We're not going to provide a timeline for that."
"We're in a good spot today, and the secretary's looking forward to having meetings with his North Korean counterparts," she said. "We're going to this eyes wide open, but nevertheless we've made a lot of progress in the past year."
She added that "we're continuing our conversations and also our consultations with the North Korean government about what the president and what Kim Jong Un agreed to at the Singapore summit. So we obviously have a whole lot to talk about."
Nauert also said Pompeo, who will head to the DPRK on Thursday for talks, has "at least a day and a half of meetings planned, depending on how the schedule goes" in the Asian nation.
