1st LD: Pompeo says senior DPRK official to deliver letter from Kim Jong Un to Trump

NEW YORK, May 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that a senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was planning to travel to the White House to deliver a letter from the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un to President Donald Trump.

Pompeo made the remarks at a press briefing in New York after wrapping up his two-day meeting with a visiting DPRK delegation, led by Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the DPRK's ruling Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee.

Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters that he was expecting the delegation led by Kim Yong Chol to come to Washington on Friday to deliver the personal letter from Kim.

In the briefing, Pompeo also noted that his talks with the high-level DPRK official, whom he has met twice during his trips to the DPRK, went on well and he was confident that the two sides were "moving at the right direction" after a string of talks over the past week.

However, the U.S. top diplomat responded with "don't know" when asked if the expected June 12 Trump-Kim summit in Singapore will take place as originally planned.

After recent twists and turns and the whirlwind of diplomacy over the weekend, Washington voiced cautious optimism about the summit, saying on Tuesday there were "signs of progress" for the expected meeting. Enditem