US, N Korea hold second day of nuclear talks ahead of summit

: US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and high-ranking North Korean official Kim Yong Chol entered a second day of meetings in New York on Thursday as they try to settle nuclear weapons disagreements and set the stage for a historic summit between their leaders.

The two men left a 90-minute private dinner at a New York apartment on Wednesday night without providing details about their conversation.

The United States has been demanding that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons programme amid reports that it is close to being able to launch a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States.

Pyongyang has long argued that it needed nuclear weapons for its security.

The New York meetings follow high-level conversations Pompeo held in North Korea in April and earlier in May and are intended to get negotiations between the two long-time adversaries back on track.

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jung Un had been scheduled to hold an unprecedented summit in Singapore on June 12.

“The potential summit .... presents DPRK with a great opportunity to achieve security and economic prosperity,” Pompeo said on Twitter on Thursday, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “The people of North Korea can have a brighter future and the world can be more peaceful,” he said. REUTERS

NEW YORK