NEW YORK, May 31 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the central committee of the Korean Workers' Party, and the two men and their aides shared dinner in New York, according to Pompeo's Twitter account.
"Good working dinner with Kim Yong Chol in New York tonight. Steak, corn and cheese on the menu," Pompeo tweeted late Wednesday evening, showing photos taken at the Corinthian condominium complex on East 38th Street.
Good working dinner with Kim Yong Chol in New York tonight. Steak, corn, and cheese on the menu. pic.twitter.com/1pu4K3oym7
- Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 31, 2018
On Thursday morning, the former CIA director tweeted, "The potential summit between @POTUS and Chairman Kim presents #DPRK with a great opportunity to achieve security and economic prosperity. The people of #NorthKorea can have a brighter future and the world can be more peaceful."
The potential summit between @POTUS and Chairman Kim presents #DPRK with a great opportunity to achieve security and economic prosperity. The people of #NorthKorea can have a brighter future and the world can be more peaceful.
- Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 31, 2018
Pompeo did not include details of the meeting, but South Korean news agency Yonhap reported the United States offered regime security in the event of complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of the North's nuclear weapons.
Pompeo and Kim are to conduct further talks on Thursday.
U.S. negotiators are expected to put forth the argument the North's weapons of mass destruction make the regime less and not more safe, a State Department official told Yonhap on Wednesday.
The possibility remains the planned summit between President Donald Trump and Kim will be postponed.
Voice of America reported the two sides met in Singapore for working-level talks, described as very positive at the State Department.
There is speculation Kim Yong Chol has brought with him a letter from Kim Jong Un to be delivered to Trump.
"If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write," Trump had stated in his letter to Kim last week.
Challenges face both countries.
Joseph Yun, the former U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, wrote in Foreign Affairs Wednesday that North Korea military advances, including a September test of a hydrogen bomb, make it harder than in the past to negotiate.
"Trump has made clear, success is defined as immediate CVID [complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization], a difficult-to-grasp phrase that would elicit eye rolls from my North Korean counterparts whenever it was mentioned during our encounters," Yun wrote.
