U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill is known to be mulling a visit to Pyongyang to build mutual trust with North Korea shortly after the next round of six-way nuclear talks.

The U.S. assistant secretary of state also wants to see the North’s nuclear facilities for himself during the trip.

In addition, Washington is planning bilateral talks with Pyongyang prior to the next six-party meeting in order to speed implementation of the February 13th denuclearization agreement.

Under the terms of the February 13th accord, North Korea pledged to shut down its nuclear facilities by April 14th. But the North has refused to move until it receives its unfrozen assets from a Macao bank, resulting in a missed deadline and a stalled denuclearization process.

Hill will likely visit the North in late May, given the timetable for the next round of six-way talks.