Secretary of state Mike Pompeo heralded a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to dismantle Pyongyang’s nuclear programme after meeting with a top North Korean official, but warned the regime would need to show “bold leadership” and renounce its militaristic governing philosophy.

“Our countries face a pivotal moment in which it could be nothing short of tragic to let this opportunity go to waste”, Mr Pompeo said on Twitter.

The negotiations in New York between Mr Pompeo and Kim Yong-chol, a prominent official in Pyongyang, spurred on a concerted effort to revive a meeting between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

One week after Mr Trump abruptly renounced the planned meeting, excoriating the regime for a statement mocking vice president Mike Pence, the US president said he was expecting a North Korean delegation to deliver him a letter from Mr Kim. Mr Pompeo later confirmed that Kim Yong-chol intended to deliver the note.

“It is very important to them,” Mr Trump told reporters.

The president said striking a deal might require multiple meetings but left open the possibility of talks not occurring, saying “maybe we will have none”.

As the president awaited the missive from Mr Kim, Mr Pompeo was entering a second day of meetings with his North Korean counterpart. After dining on steak, corn and cheese the previous evening, Mr Pompeo announced on Twitter that the “potential summit” between the nation’s leaders presented a “great opportunity to achieve security and economic prosperity”.

North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border Show all 20 1 /20 North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border People have their picture taken with North Korea in the background, in Tumen, China. In the Chinese city of Dandong, signs of neighbouring North Korea are pervasive. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border A North Korean woman is photographed from the Chinese side of the Yalu River near the town of Changbai, China as she walks between houses in the North Korean town of Hyesan. A week-long road trip along China's side of its border with North Korea revealed stark contrasts between China's bright towns and North Korea's dark villages. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border North Korean souvenirs are displayed for sale on the banks of the Yalu River in Dandong in Liaoning province, China. In the Chinese city of Dandong, signs of neighbouring North Korea are pervasive. Reuters North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border A large screen, which faces North Korea, broadcasts propaganda videos on an island on the Yalu River between North Korea and China, in the town of Linjiang in Jilin province, China. A week-long road trip along China's side of its border with North Korea revealed stark contrasts between China's bright towns and North Korea's dark villages. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border A piece of clothing is used to make a gap in barbed wire near the closed bridge over the Yalu River on the Chinese side of the border with North Korea between towns of Ji'an and Linjiang, China. A week-long road trip along China's side of its border with North Korea showed places where it is porous. Reuters North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border A tourist uses binoculars to look across to North Korea from a tower built on the Chinese side of the border between Russia (L), China (C) and North Korea (R) near the town of Hunchun in China. Reuters North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border North Koreans are photographed from the Chinese side of the border as they stand next to the freezing Yalu River near the town of Linjiang, China. On a road trip along China's side of its border with North Korea, reporters found a group of North Koreans diving in the Yalu river who the Chinese locals said were searching for gold. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border Women participate in a group dance exercise close to the Yalu River which runs between China and North Korea, in the town of Linjiang in Jilin province, China. A week-long road trip along China's side of its border with North Korea revealed stark contrasts between China's bright towns and North Korea's dark villages. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border A sign reading, "Take the initiative to preserve order along the border," stands in a field at the border between China and North Korea just outside Dandong, Liaoning province, China. Reuters North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border A couple prepare for a wedding photography session on a boat which takes tourists on sightseeing tours from the Chinese side of the Yalu River, close to the shores of North Korea, near Dandong, Liaoning province, China. In the Chinese city of Dandong, signs of neighbouring North Korea are pervasive. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border Tourists travel on a boat taking them from the Chinese side of the Yalu River for sightseeing close to the shores of North Korea, near Dandong, Liaoning province, China. In the Chinese city of Dandong, signs of neighbouring North Korea are pervasive. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border North Koreans are photographed from the Chinese side of the border as they stand next to the freezing Yalu River near the town of Linjiang, China. On a road trip along China's side of its border with North Korea, reporters found a group of North Koreans diving in the Yalu river who the Chinese locals said were searching for gold. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border Women walk across a bridge from an island on the Yalu River, dividing North Korea and China, in the town of Linjiang in Jilin province, China. A week-long road trip along China's side of its border with North Korea revealed stark contrasts between China's bright towns and North Korea's dark villages. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border A North Korean soldier and locals are photographed from the Chinese side of the border north of Dandong, China as they stand on the banks of the Yalu River, north of Sinuiju, North Korea. A week-long road trip along China's side of its border with North Korea revealed stark contrasts between China's bright towns and North Korea's dark villages. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border North Korean girls are photographed from the Chinese side of the border as they collect water from the frozen Yalu River near Linjiang, China. A week-long road trip along China's side of its border with North Korea revealed stark contrasts between China's bright towns and North Korea's dark villages. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border A man looks through binoculars towards North Korea on the Broken Bridge over the Yalu River that connects the North Korean town of Sinuiju and Dandong in Liaoning Province, China. In the Chinese city of Dandong, signs of neighbouring North Korea are pervasive. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border North Koreans are photographed from the Chinese side of the border as they stand next to the freezing Yalu River near the town of Linjiang, China. On a road trip along China's side of its border with North Korea, reporters found a group of North Koreans diving in the Yalu river who the Chinese locals said were searching for gold. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border North Korean fishermen are seen as a Chinese flag flutters from the Broken Bridge as the sun sets over the Yalu River between the North Korean town of Sinuiju and Dandong in Liaoning Province, China. In the Chinese city of Dandong, signs of neighbouring North Korea are pervasive. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border North Koreans are photographed from the Chinese side of the border as they stand in the freezing Yalu River near the town of Linjiang, China. On a road trip along China's side of its border with North Korea, reporters found a group of North Koreans diving in the Yalu river who the Chinese locals said were searching for gold. REUTERS North Korea: A road trip on the edge of the Chinese border Women, photographed from the Chinese side of the border, are seen through binoculars fixed on a building on the Chinese side of the border for sightseers to look across to North Korea, as they cross the bridge from Namyang in North Korea towards the town of Tumen in China, Reuters

But in remarks after the summit concluded, Mr Pompeo acknowledged the challenges in convincing the North Korean regime to abandon its longstanding strategy of developing nuclear weapons to guarantee its continued hold on power. It is critical, Mr Pompeo said, to convince the regime that “the real threat to their security is the continued holding onto that nuclear weapons programme and not the converse”.

He said: “I believe they are contemplating a path forward where they can make a strategic shift, one that their country has not been prepared to make before," adding that an agreement to give up the nuclear weapons programme would allow North Korea to be “integrated into the community of nations”.

Both developments reenacted the series of events that led Mr Trump to agree to a meeting in the first place, demonstrating that both sides remained keen to go ahead with a meeting that days earlier teetered on the brink of collapse.

Mike Pompeo meets Kim Jong-un in North Korea

Earlier this year, the White House made the bombshell announcement that South Korean envoys had conveyed to Mr Trump an invitation to meet with Mr Kim. Weeks after the message was delivered to the Oval Office, Mr Pompeo - who was head of the CIA at the time - secretly travelled to North Korea for a meeting with Mr Kim

But even as the White House underscored the momentum towards a meeting by describing a pair of diplomatic delegations travelling to Asia and saying the administration expected a meeting to happen on 12 June, as scheduled, there were reminders of the obstacles to a deal.

In a meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, Mr Kim signalled resistance to American demands by blasting “US hegemonism”. Pyongyang has long denounced America as an imperial power that is intent on planning an invasion.

Ahead of his meeting with his North Korean counterpart, Mr Pompeo reiterated that America would demand “the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”, hewing to language long emphasised by the US and its allies.

While Mr Kim has conveyed his commitment to “denuclearisation”, Pyongyang has also telegraphed that it will not easily accede to totally dismantling its nuclear programme.

After national security adviser John Bolton reiterated the administration’s focus on dissolving North Korea’s nuclear programme and invoked Libya’s voluntary renunciation of its nuclear programme, Pyongyang issued an angry statement assailing the “recklessly made” remarks - an apparent reaction to Libya’s ultimate fate, where the nuclear agreement could not prevent leader Muammar Al-Gaddafi’s ouster.