WEBVTT 00:01.933 --> 00:04.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: But first: The U.S. secretary of state visited North Korea yesterday to 00:04.300 --> 00:08.433 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% continue negotiations with a regime there over its nuclear program. 00:08.433 --> 00:12.033 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% It is a process that has seen its ups and its downs. 00:12.033 --> 00:16.633 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And, as John Yang reports, this visit produced some guarded optimism. 00:16.633 --> 00:21.633 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: It was all smiles around the table for a Sunday lunch in Pyongyang, where North 00:24.233 --> 00:27.866 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Korea's nuclear arsenal was the main menu item. 00:27.866 --> 00:32.866 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Later, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reported significant progress in his talks with North 00:34.300 --> 00:36.333 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un. 00:36.333 --> 00:39.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MIKE POMPEO, U.S. Secretary of State: We had a good, productive conversation. 00:39.966 --> 00:44.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% As President Trump has said, there are many steps along the way, and we took one of them 00:45.666 --> 00:47.666 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% today. 00:47.666 --> 00:49.800 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: The North's state-run television echoed that positive tone. 00:49.800 --> 00:54.500 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% The two sides agreed to establish working-level talks on a second summit between President 00:55.133 --> 00:57.200 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% Trump and Kim. 00:57.200 --> 01:00.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Pompeo also told reporters that the North agreed to allow inspectors at a nuclear test 01:02.133 --> 01:04.100 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% site the North says it demolished last spring. 01:04.100 --> 01:08.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The administration has expressed doubts that the site had actually been destroyed. 01:10.900 --> 01:14.100 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Siegfried Hecker is former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. 01:14.100 --> 01:16.133 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% He's visited North Korea several times. 01:16.133 --> 01:18.200 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% SIEGFRIED HECKER, Former Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory: There had been so much 01:18.200 --> 01:22.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% skepticism about whether what the North Koreans did actually would make a difference or not, 01:23.666 --> 01:25.733 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% whether it would make it easy for them to test. 01:25.733 --> 01:30.733 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% So it's a big deal to actually let someone come in and to evaluate whether that really 01:33.266 --> 01:35.466 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% sets back the test site significantly. 01:35.466 --> 01:39.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It's an important confidence-building measure, as far as I'm concerned. 01:39.833 --> 01:43.300 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% JOHN YANG: President Trump's confidence is already running high. 01:43.300 --> 01:48.266 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% He recently expressed a fondness for the North Korean leader he once derided as Little Rocket 01:48.766 --> 01:50.433 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% Man. 01:50.433 --> 01:51.000 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We fell in love now. 01:51.000 --> 01:51.700 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% OK? 01:51.700 --> 01:52.666 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% (LAUGHTER) 01:52.666 --> 01:53.633 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% DONALD TRUMP: No, really. 01:53.633 --> 01:55.700 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% He wrote me beautiful letters. 01:55.700 --> 01:58.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: The president's top advisers have remained more skeptical of shifting from talk 01:58.466 --> 02:02.633 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% in 2017 of fire and fury to falling in love. 02:02.633 --> 02:07.633 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% Instead, they insist U.S. sanctions will stay in place until the North's nukes are gone. 02:09.533 --> 02:13.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% China's support is also critical for any North Korean nuclear disarmament. 02:13.533 --> 02:18.533 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% But maintaining Beijing's support is complicated by a growing trade war and other deep tensions. 02:20.533 --> 02:24.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% That was clear today as Pompeo met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. 02:24.366 --> 02:28.733 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% WANG YI, Chinese Foreign Minister (through translator): We urge the United States to 02:28.733 --> 02:30.733 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% stop these kinds of mistaken actions. 02:30.733 --> 02:34.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% We believe China and the U.S. should stick to the correct path of cooperation. 02:34.500 --> 02:39.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MIKE POMPEO: I regret that the strategic dialogue between our two countries was something that 02:39.333 --> 02:41.733 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% you all chose not to undertake. 02:41.733 --> 02:46.100 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: China's role aside, there's no framework yet for dismantling North Korea's 02:46.100 --> 02:48.166 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% nuclear arsenal. 02:48.166 --> 02:52.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But Siegfried Hecker notes that Pyongyang has put aside further nuclear testing. 02:52.333 --> 02:57.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% SIEGFRIED HECKER: No testing means they will not be able to improve the sophistication 02:58.200 --> 03:00.333 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% of their nuclear weapons. 03:00.333 --> 03:04.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And particularly what I would be worried about it is making the weapons smaller or to continue 03:05.733 --> 03:08.966 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% to develop the hydrogen thermonuclear bomb capabilities. 03:08.966 --> 03:13.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: The next steps are unclear, including the possible timing of that second summit 03:14.700 --> 03:16.600 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% between the two leaders. 03:16.600 --> 03:18.733 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.