WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will chair a United Nations Security Council meeting next week to address efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program, the State Department said Tuesday.
Pompeo plans to chair the ministerial meeting in New York on Sept. 27 after accompanying US President Donald Trump there to attend the UN General Assembly.
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"That meeting will give the secretary a chance to update the Security Council on our efforts toward the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, as well as underscore the need for all member states to enforce existing sanctions," department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said during a regular press briefing.
North Korea is under a wide array of UN sanctions for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
China and Russia -- two of the five permanent members of the Security Council -- have suggested an easing of the sanctions amid a flurry of diplomacy to denuclearize Pyongyang.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met in Pyongyang on Tuesday for their third summit, and will continue talks Wednesday.
Trump also held a historic summit with Kim in Singapore in June, yielding a statement that committed North Korea to work toward the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the US.
As the deal's implementation has stalled, the Trump administration has accused Russia of violating UN sanctions on North Korea and undermining efforts to denuclearize the regime.
The US will make the issue of North Korea's denuclearization a priority at the UN, Nauert said. (Yonhap)
