Donald Trump has not softened stance on North Korea’s nuclear weapons, State Department says

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The State Department is pushing back against suggestions the Trump administration has softened its stance on North Korea as the top U.S. diplomat travels to Pyongyang for crucial nuclear talks.

Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert tells journalists accompanying Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that U.S. policy hasn’t changed. She says the U.S. remains “committed to a denuclearized North Korea.”

READ MORE: Donald Trump says North Korea talks ‘going well,’ U.S. ‘would now be at war’ if it weren’t for him

Pompeo will press North Korea to take concrete action to back up its commitment to “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula made at the June summit between President Donald Trump and the North’s Kim Jong Un.

Pompeo is due in Pyongayng on Friday.

READ MORE: North Korea’s missile program was expanding as Trump met with Kim

Despite reports that North Korea is continuing its nuclear program, Trump has remained upbeat, tweeting this week that conversations with North Korea were “going well!”