US ready to resume North Korea talks on denuclearization - Reuters

As reported by Reuters, the US has announced that it is "ready" to resume talks with North Korea with a target of denuclearization by 2021 after Pyongyang pledged on Wednesday that it will begin dismantling its key missile and nuclear sites if Washington takes "comparable" measures, which have as of yet remained undefined.

Key highlights

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has invited North Korea's foreign minister to meet in New York following a summit by the leaders of North and South Korea this week.

North Korea will allegedly begin allowing experts from "concerned countries" watch the closure of its missile site at Dongchang-ri according to South Korea's Moon, but agreements on North Korea's other remaining nuclear sites remain thin.

There is nothing the North has offered so far that would constitute irreversible movement toward denuclearization, however you define that, by January 2021 or any other time, or even a reduction of the military threat it poses to the South and the region,” said a U.S. intelligence official. “Everything that’s out there now is conditional on U.S. actions that would reduce the pressure on the North to cooperate or (is) filled with loopholes and exit ramps,” added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

 - Reuters, citing an unnamed source within the US intelligence community: