Pompeo and Kim Yong-chol met in New York in May after Trump called off a planned summit with the North Korean leader.

That meeting and Kim Yong-chol's subsequent visit with Trump at the White House led the US president to put the summit back on for June 12 in Singapore.

Pompeo said in an Oct. 19 interview with the Voice of America that he hoped to have talks with his North Korean counterpart "in the next week and a half or so" to continue discussions on the North's denuclearization and the potential second summit.

"At the time of Secretary Pompeo's remarks, (the meeting) was being planned for the end of October, but I understand that it was delayed by a couple days due to circumstances on the US side," one source with knowledge of US-North Korea negotiations said Monday.

Trump earlier said he expects to meet Kim Jong-un after the midterm elections in one of three or four locations.

According to US National Security Adviser John Bolton, the summit will likely happen early next year.

At the first summit, Kim committed to work toward "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the US.

The deal's implementation has stalled as the US demands verifiable steps toward denuclearization and the North an easing of sanctions against the regime.

On the table will likely be ways to realize North Korea's stated commitment to denuclearize, including Kim Jong-un's invitation of international inspectors to the nuclear testing site in Punggye-ri, the sources said.

Kim has also committed to dismantle a missile engine testing site and, in return for "corresponding" measures from the US, shut down the main nuclear complex in Yongbyon. (Yonhap)