Seoul: The United States hopes to achieve "major disarmament" by North Korea within the next 2½ years, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says, after President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a historic summit.

Trump and Kim met in Singapore on Tuesday and reached a short agreement that reaffirmed the North's commitment to "work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula", but provided no details on when Pyongyang would give up nuclear arms or how that might be verified.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Credit:AP

Pompeo was in Seoul on Wednesday to brief South Korean officials on the summit. Speaking to a small group of reporters and asked if he would like to accomplish major nuclear disarmament within Trump's current term, which ends on January 20, 2021, Pompeo replied: "Oh yes, most definitively. Absolutely ... you used the term major, major disarmament, something like that? We're hopeful that we can achieve that in the 2½ years.

"I am ... confident they understand that there will be in-depth verification," Pompeo added, saying the initial agreement between Trump and Kim had not captured all of what had been agreed by the two sides.