U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has voiced hope that the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea will meet again in the "coming months" and make significant progress on the North's denuclearization.

During an interview with a radio station in Pennsylvania recorded last Friday and broadcast on Monday, the U.S. top diplomat said it's in America's interest to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue as quickly as possible.

Pompeo expressed hope that President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet to achieve a substantive first step or a substantive big step along the path to denuclearization.

The secretary refused to predict the timeline for negotiations with North Korea regarding its nuclear weapons program, but noted tough international sanctions will accelerate the process.

He said that the "final, fully denuclearized North Korean peninsula" can be realized, at which time there will be a brighter future for the North Korean people as President Trump promised, adding it's hard to know when exactly that will be.