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The Latest on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to Pyongyang (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told a senior North Korean official in Pyongyang that the United States wants to work with North Korea to resolve their differences, while warning that challenges remain.

Pompeo arrived in the North Korean capital early Wednesday to finalize plans for a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim Yong Chul, director of the department responsible for inter-Korean relations, hosted a lunch for Pompeo and about a dozen staff members traveling with him. Pompeo called Kim a great partner in working to make the planned summit successful.

Kim said that North Korea's policies aren't a result of sanctions imposed on the country. Trump has said that his pressure tactics have brought North Korea to the negotiating table.

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2:50 p.m.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in North Korea to finalize plans for a historic summit between President Donald Trump and the North's leader, Kim Jong Un.

U.S. officials say Pompeo will also be pressing North Korea for the release of three detained American citizens, whose imminent release Trump has been hinting at.

The trip is Pompeo's second to North Korea this year. It had not been publicly disclosed when he flew out of Washington under cover of darkness late Monday aboard an Air Force 757.

Trump announced the mission Tuesday afternoon as he laid out the case for withdrawing from a landmark nuclear deal with Iran, another bitter U.S. adversary.

When the flight arrived Wednesday morning in Pyongyang, North Korean officials were on hand to greet Pompeo.