Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attempted to lower the bar for what constitutes a 'successful outcome' of the Kim summit on Sunday after President Trump predicted he'd walk away with a major achievement.

Pompeo said that Trump and Kim Jong-un would meet in Singapore on June 12 to 'see if there is sufficient overlap so that we can achieve the ultimate objective for the American people' of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

'We are not to the place yet where we should be remotely close to declaring that we have achieved what it is we want. There's a great deal of work that remains,' Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday.

However, he said, 'It's just possible we might pull off an historic undertaking.'

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attempted to lower the bar for what constitutes a 'successful outcome' of the Kim summit on Sunday after President Trump predicted he'd walk away with a major achievement

North Korea said Saturday it will publicly dismantle its nuclear tests sites this month in anticipation of Trump and Kim's face-to-face. The rogue regime also pledged to end its unannounced ballistic missile tests.

Kim's government last week released three American prisoners into Pompeo's care, and hours later Trump firmly committed to a date and location for his meeting with the North Korean despot.

'I really think he wants to do something. I think he did this because I really think he wants to do something and bring that country into the real world,' Trump said in remarks from the tarmac at a military base in Maryland after greeting the detainees.

Making his expectations known, Trump said, 'I think that we’re going to have a success. I think this will be a very big success.'

A spokesman for the White House declined to comment further during a gaggle with reporters aboard Air Force One later that day. But he told DailyMail.com that entering a deal with Kim at the June 12 summit is 'certainly a goal' of the president's.

'Our policy is to ensure the complete, irreversible, and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,' Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said. 'And that’s what he’s going to be seeking.'

As Pompeo was on his way to North Korea for a conversation with Kim just before the prisoner release the Trump administration for the first time spelled out exactly what it wants in a deal from Pyongyang.

National Security Advisor John Bolton said an agreement 'in part, rests on what North Korea itself agreed to going back to the 1992 joint North-South denuclearization declaration: the elimination of both the front and the backend of the nuclear fuel cycle; no uranium enrichment; no plutonium reprocessing.

'There are other things we’ll be asking for as well,' Bolton told reporters at a White House briefing. 'But when you’re serious about eliminating the threat of nuclear proliferation, you have to address the aspects that permit an aspiring nuclear weapons state to get there.'

Bolton said, 'A deal that we hope to reach, the President is optimistic we can reach with North Korea, will address all those issues.'

Pompeo on Sunday attempted to water down enthusiasm for an on-the-spot agreement after Trump and Kim's visit to Singapore.

'Our eyes are wide open with respect to the risks, but it is -- it is our fervent hope that Chairman Kim wants to make a strategic change, a strategic change in the direction for his country and his people,' he told Fox in an interview that aired on Sunday.

Pompeo said that Trump and Kim Jong-un would meet in Singapore on June 12 to 'see if there is sufficient overlap so that we can achieve the ultimate objective for the American people' of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula

The nation's top diplomat met with Kim on two occasions over the course of the month, first as CIA director and more recently in his capacity as secretary of state, providing him with greater insight into the 33-year-old head of the hermit nation than any other American, aside from basketball player Dennis Rodman.

Pompeo says it is his belief that Kim, who took over from his father in 2011, 'understands' that in order to strike a deal with the U.S. 'this is going to have to be different and big and special, and something that has never been undertaken before.

'If we are going to get to this historic outcome, both sides have to be prepared to take a truly measures to achieve it,' he said.

As the secretary of state, Pompeo said it's his job to lay the groundwork for a thawing of tensions.

'I think we now understand that there is the potential that there are shared objectives,' he said.



As for his own talks with Kim, Pompeo said, 'The conversations are professional...He knows his brief, he knows what he is trying to achieve for the North Korean people. He is able to deal with complexity when the conversation requires it.

'He does follow the Western press. He will probably watch the show at some point,' Pompeo told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace. 'He's paying attention to things the world is saying. He too is preparing for June 12th. He and his team, we’ll be working with them to put our two leaders in a position where it's just possible we might pull off an historic undertaking.'

The nation's top diplomat met with Kim on two occasions over the course of the month. He said Kim 'understands' that in order to strike a deal with the U.S. 'this is going to have to be different and big and special, and something that has never been undertaken before'

Any deal with North Korea will only be possible if the foreign government that has an economy crashing under the weight of international sanctions feels its financially worth it.

Pompeo on Friday said Pyongyang could look forward to a 'future brimming with peace and prosperity' if it gives up its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The lifting of sanctions would allow American companies to enter into contracts with North Korea to rebuild the county's national infrastructure. Once it's off the blacklist, Pyongyang could also be eligible for international aid.

Sen. Lindsey Graham on CBS on Sunday said, 'If you could really get North Korea to give up their nuclear program than I think there'd be a lot of support in Congress to give North Korea a better life.

'Provide aid, relieve sanctions with one condition: that you give up your nuclear weapons program in a verifiable way. When it comes to North Korea, I think there’d be a lot of congressional support,' he said.

Bolton on CNN's 'State of the Union' slapped down the idea of aid to North Korea, however.

'I wouldn't look for economic aid from us,' he asserted. 'I think what the prospect for North Korea is to become a normal nation, to behave and interact with the rest of the world the way South Korea does.'

Pompeo told Fox that he was talking about private-sector investments when he made the remark.

'Not the U.S. taxpayer, private-sector Americans helping build the energy grid,' he said. 'They need enormous amounts of electricity in North Korea, to work with them to develop infrastructure. All the things that the North Korean people need, the capacity for American agriculture to support North Korea so they can eat meat and have healthy lives.'

Even if Trump and Kim agree on the contours of a deal during their Singapore summit, it would most likely need the support of Congress.

Former President Barack Obama bypassed lawmakers in 2015 when his administration entered into a nuclear agreement with Tehran to the fury of Republicans who said that only Congress has the authority to approve treaty documents.

Bolton on Sunday indicated that the Republican administration was considering proceeding the same way now that Trump is the one in office.

'Well it’s entirely possible we’d proceed that way, we’re still thinking about the different alternatives, I wouldn’t want to foreclose the president’s options,' he said of congressional approval.

He admitted in the next breath though that 'it’s been one of the criticisms of the Iran nuclear deal to be sure...that a deal of that level of consequence was not given to the Senate as many people think the Constitution provided.'