File Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shakes hands with Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono before a breakfast meeting in Tokyo, Japan, July 8, 2018. (Xinhua/Reuters)
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. State Department said on Monday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a phone conversation with his Japanese counterpart on Sunday, agreeing on the goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Pompeo and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono reaffirmed their commitment to the final, fully verified denuclearization of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to a statement issued by the State Department.
The phone conversation between the two was made after Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the DPRK's ruling Korean Workers' Party Central Committee, met with Pompeo and President Donald Trump last Friday in Washington.
The Japanese government said Saturday that it welcomes the scheduled second U.S.-DPRK summit, and hopes the meeting will produce tangible results toward achieving denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The White House announced Friday that the second summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, the top leader of the DPRK, "will take place near the end of February."
"We've picked the country, but we'll be announcing it in the future," Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday morning.