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Pompeo heads to North Korea ahead of Trump-Kim talks
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![Trump deploys Pompeo to North Korea to prepare Kim summit]()
US President Donald Trump has announced that Washington's chief diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is on his way to North Korea to prepare for a landmark nuclear summit Trump deploys Pompeo to North Korea to prepare Kim summit
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is visiting Pyongyang ahead of a landmark meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump.
Mr Pompeo said he hoped to finalise plans for talks on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
He also said he hoped North Korea would "do the right thing" and release three US citizens detained in the country.
It is Mr Pompeo's second trip to Pyongyang after a meeting with Mr Kim last month while he was CIA director.
He later said that a "good relationship" was formed at the meeting in April, which marked the highest level US contact with North Korea since 2000.
On Tuesday, Mr Pompeo said the release of three imprisoned Americans held in North Korea would be "a great gesture".
"We've been asking for the release of these detainees for 17 months," he said.
A State Department official travelling with Mr Pompeo said the US would also be "listening for signs from North Korea that things have substantially changed" with the nation's nuclear ambitions.
Mr Trump also referred to Mr Pompeo's latest visit while announcing that the US was withdrawing from an Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran.
