Washington (CNN) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested on Thursday new sanctions could be in the works for North Korea, even as he expressed hope the country would return to the negotiating table for direct talks following President Donald Trump's decision to cancel the summit with Kim Jong Un that had been due to take place next month in Singapore.

"My sense was that we hadn't taken much of a pause," Pompeo told lawmakers of the administration's so-called "pressure campaign" to put economic pressure on the regime in Pyongyang. He specifically cited efforts the US was taking to get other countries to expel North Korean guest workers and intercept illicit transfers of sanctioned materials.

"So I think we have been continuing that even up through today, as we were contemplating the June 12th summit," said Pompeo, adding he was "sure there are additional sanctions that we will seek to put in place."

Pompeo testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee just minutes after the White House said Trump was canceling the summit.

At the start of the hearing, Pompeo read a letter from Trump to Kim, in which the President said he had been "very much looking forward" to the summit, but felt it was "inappropriate" to hold it in light of what he called "tremendous anger and open hostility" from the North Korean government.

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