US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is about to hold high-level talks in Washington DC with North Korean senior official Kim Yong Chol on Thursday or Friday, and both sides are fine-tuning details.
The North Korean official is likely to meet US President Donald Trump as well, South Korean newspaper the Chosun Ilbo said on Tuesday, citing an unnamed diplomatic source.
Asked about the report, a US State Department official said, "We don't have any meetings to announce." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United States is considering partially easing sanctions on North Korea in exchange for the isolated nation discarding, or sending abroad, its ICBMs, in addition to the adoption of a "nuclear freeze," the US talks with the South Korean government have shown, the Chosun Ilbo report said.
"If North Korea accepts, it's a realisable scenario," it quoted the source as saying.
South Korea's presidential office directed questions to the foreign ministry, which did not have immediate comment.
This month, Trump said he had received a "great" letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and would probably meet him again in the not-too-distant future, as part of efforts to persuade him to give up his nuclear weapons.
Pompeo made several trips to Pyongyang last year, but the two sides have not rescheduled an abruptly cancelled November meeting between him and Kim Yong Chol that aimed at paving the way for a second summit.
