Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says... he will continue to be in charge of nuclear talks with North Korea,... dismissing the regime's call for his replacement.
This comes... after a North Korean official accused the U.S diplomat for failing to understand Pyeongyang's position.
Seo Bo-bin has the details.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said... that he will continue to be in charge of nuclear talks with North Korea.

Speaking to reporters at the State Department on Friday,... Pompeo reiterated that he will lead the negotiating team... together with Special Representative Stephen Biegun.
He dismissed a top North Korean official's demand that Pompeo be replaced... by a quote "more mature and careful" negotiator... who can better understand Pyeongyang's position.
Pompeo declined to criticize the regime,... instead emphasizing there's still a "real opportunity" to achieve the North's denuclearization... and that his diplomatic team will remain in the lead.

However, Pompeo didn't show much flexibility in terms of sanctions relief,... saying they would continue to be enforced... while Washington continues to press the regime to abandon all of its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.

Just hours before his statement,... North Korea's state media had announced that it tested a new type of 'tactical guided weapon',... its first public weapon test since the breakdown of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi.

Pompeo's comments came... during a 'two-plus-two' meeting of U.S. and Japanese foreign ministers and defense chiefs in Washington.
There,... the two sides vowed to work together with the international community... in implementing U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea.

Secretary Pompeo also encouraged other countries to cooperate... in maintaining sanctions pressure on the regime,... brushing off Pyeongyang's threats that it would NOT return to the negotiating table without sanctions relief.

Seo Bo-bin, Arirang News.