US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the United States is "ready to go" with restarting denuclearization talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). 

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) attends a joint press briefing with Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai in Bangkok, Thailand, August 1, 2019. (Photo: Reuters)

Speaking on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers' meeting and other related meetings in Bangkok, the top US diplomat said he regretted that he was unable to meet with DPRK representatives in the Thai capital. 

Although he expressed optimism that talks could restart soon, Pompeo said he had urged regional allies "to maintain the sanctions that spur diplomacy with North Korea (DPRK)." 

Pompeo's remarks come after DPRK leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the first test-firing of a "new-type large-caliber multiple launch guided rocket system" on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump (L) and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un meet in the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom, June 30, 2019. (File photo: VCG)

Meanwhile, Pompeo told reporters that he had held a "professional" meeting with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi earlier on Thursday. 

According to a statement on the meeting by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Pompeo told Wang that the US is willing to restart contact with DPRK's working team at any time. 

Wang urged Washington and Pyongyang to meet each other halfway, accommodate each other's concerns, and formulate a feasible roadmap as soon as possible. He called for resolving the Korean Peninsula issue politically by following a "phased approach with synchronized steps." 

US President Donald Trump and the DPRK leader agreed at their Singapore summit in June 2018 to work towards complete denuclearization of and a lasting peace on the peninsula, but negotiations have stalled over how to implement the consensus. 

A second Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi this February ended without a deal.