Mike Pompeo plans talks to prepare new summit Donald Trump-Kim Jong-un

The Trump administration calls for a second summit between the North Korean president and Kim Jong-un by early 2019, in the hope of boosting the denuclearization talks that have produced little tangible results since the first historic summit of the two leaders in Singapore.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that he would discuss details of a second Trump-Kim summit with his North Korean counterparts in the coming days. It will also be necessary to give Pyongyang a date to honor its recent promise to let US inspectors examine a key northern sector. Korean nuclear installation.

But, while Mr Pompeo expressed the hope of a "substantial advance" soon, state department officials were kept on Thursday on the issue of nuclear inspectors, suggesting that the US government has not been able to do anything about it. Trump administration is still thinking about how to advance Kim's regime.

There were, however, other signs of progress on other fronts on Thursday, with South Korean President Moon Jae-in announcing that Kim would be traveling "soon" to Seoul and a second summit. of the two Korean leaders was "at hand". Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit North Korea soon. Kim is expected to visit Russia soon and may even meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In the past, diplomats from China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and the United States had collaborated as a group in unsuccessful attempts to tackle the nuclear problems of the North. Now, Kim's regime is working with these countries on an individual basis, raising concerns in Washington that Pyongyang is taking advantage of the current momentum to drag the talks and create a gap between the other powers.

Many argue that considerable differences are already beginning to emerge between Seoul and Washington over how to push North Koreans to give up their nuclear weapons.

In these circumstances, Moon, South Korea's top adviser, said this week that a paradigm shift may be needed.

"The United States regards North Korea as a crime and a punishment, it is its social construction: to deceive and lie by North Korea," The Korea Times Moon Chung-in, special adviser to the President for Unification, Diplomacy and National Security. Wednesday newspaper.

"But if [the U.S.] look only Pyongyang through this framework, there is no way out, "explained the counselor. "It takes a more pragmatic and flexible approach from North Korea."

Kim hit the headlines in September by signing a joint statement with Moon to allow US inspectors to move to North Korea.

But the pledge was accompanied by a vague and potentially vast condition: the North Korean leader said his regime would dismantle its Yongbyon nuclear facility only if the United States took "unspecified" corresponding measures.

It remains to be seen what these corresponding measures might be. The South Korean authorities have suggested that Washington present a concession to Trump to support an official declaration officially ending the Korean War, which had been frozen 65 years ago by an armistice but no peace treaty.

But US support for such a statement could be difficult, as it challenges the justification for keeping some 30,000 US troops in South Korea – a key strategic footprint not far from China.

Mr. Pompeo told Laura Ingraham, a commentator at Fox News, on Wednesday that Kim personally told him three weeks ago in Pyongyang that he "was committed to allowing US inspectors to visit two important sites ".

"We hope to get there before too long," said Pompeo, adding that the inspection issue was "one of the things I'll talk to my counterpart next week".

He said that he hoped that MM. Trump and Kim could meet early in 2019, "where we can make a breakthrough to reduce North Korea's nuclear threat."

US State Department spokesman Robert Palladino declined to say whether the government plans to adopt a formal declaration to end the conflict between North Korea and South Korea.