"Steve will direct US policy towards North Korea and lead our efforts to achieve President Trump's goal of the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea as agreed to by Kim Jong Un," Pompeo told reporters at the State Department, referring to the North Korean leader.
"He and I will be traveling to North Korea next week to make further diplomatic progress towards our objective," Pompeo said.
It will be Pompeo's fourth trip this year aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States and his second since an unprecedented June summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim that produced much fanfare but little obvious progress.