Mike Pompeo goes to North Korea Thursday as doubts mount over denuclearization

U.S. Secretary of State MikePompeo will leave for North Korea on Thursday, seeking agreementon a plan for the country's denuclearizationdespite mountingdoubts about Pyongyang's willingness to abandon a weaponsprogram that threatens the United States and its allies.

In announcing Pompeo's travel plans on Monday, White Housespokesperson Sarah Sanders said the United States was "continuingto make progress" in talks with North Korea. She declined toconfirm or deny recent media reports of intelligence assessmentssaying North Korea has been expanding its weapons capabilities.

The State Department said Pompeo would head fromPyongyang to Tokyo on Saturday, where he would discuss North Koreandenuclearization with Japanese and South Korean leaders.

It will be Pompeo's first visit to North Korea since theJune 12 summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trumpand Kim Jong-un, at which the North Korean leader agreed to"work toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

The joint summit statement, however, gave no details on howor when Pyongyang might give up its weapons.

U.S. officials havesince been trying to flesh out details to produce an agreementthat might live up to Trump's enthusiastic portrayal of theoutcome.

'Great momentum'

The U.S. goal remained "the final, fully verifieddenuclearization of [North Korea], as agreed to by Chairman Kim in Singapore," a State Department spokesperson said.

A U.S. delegation led by U.S. ambassador to the PhilippinesSung Kim met with North Korean counterparts at Panmunjom on theborder between North and South Korea on Sunday to discuss nextsteps on the implementation of the summit declaration, the StateDepartment said.

"We had good meetings yesterday andthe secretary ofstate will be there later this week to continue those discussions," Sanders told a White House briefing.

Sanders endorsed comments made Sunday by White Housenational security adviser John Bolton, who said he believed thebulk of North Korea's weapons programs could be dismantledwithin a year "if they have the strategic decision already madeto do that."

"There is great momentum right now for a positive change andwe are moving together for further negotiations," Sanders said.

However, some experts disputed Bolton's optimistic timeframe for decommissioning North Korea's weapons, even if NorthKorea were willing to agree to such moves, amid multiple reportssuggesting otherwise.

These experts say there is no proof North Korea's halt of nuclear and missile tests means it will take concrete steps to give up such weapons.

U.S. intelligence reports

An NBC News report on Friday quoted officials sayingU.S. intelligence agencies believe North Korea has increasedproduction of fuel for nuclear weapons at multiple secret sitesin recent months and may try to hide these while seekingconcessions in talks with the United States.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that U.S.intelligence officials had concluded that North Korea did not intend to fully give up its nuclear arsenal and is consideringways to hide the number of weapons it has.

Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey,Calif., issued a report on Monday saying recent satellite imagery showed North Korea was completing a major expansion of akey manufacturing plant for solid-fuel missiles.

The images showed North Korea finishing construction on theexterior of the plant around the time Kim was meeting withTrump, the report said.

Last week, 38 North, a North Korea monitoring projectaffiliated with Washington's Stimson Center think-tank, said satellite imagery showed the North had been upgrading itsYongbyon nuclear complex.

Trump took a swing at the skepticsTuesday by tweeting that"All of Asia is thrilled" that North Korea has halted missile testing and only the "Opposition Party" Democrats, including the "Fake News" is complaining.

Seeking a 'road map'

Bolton refused to comment on intelligence mattersbutsaid the United States was going into nuclear negotiations awareof Pyongyang's failure to live up to its past promises.

Patrick Cronin, senior director of the Asia-Pacific SecurityProgram at the Centre for a New American Security, said U.S. andSouth Korea officials had told him Pompeo would be seeking toagree to "a specific denuclearization road map, or at leastsignificant dismantlement steps that could fill in a road map."

He said that if progress was made, the U.S. was open toexpanded future engagement with North Korea, including a possible visit by Kim to the UN General Assembly inNew York in September and a second summit with Trump.

North Korea has consistently refused in past rounds offailed negotiations to provide an inventory of its weapons programand U.S. intelligence remains uncertain of how manynuclear warheads North Korea has.

The Defence Intelligence Agency has a high-end estimate ofabout 50 nuclear warheads. But U.S. intelligence agenciesbelieve Pyongyang is concealing an unknown number, includingsmaller tactical nuclear weapons, in caves and other undergroundfacilities around the country.