U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Washington is doing all it can to understand the risks and threats posed by North Korea. 

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Pompeo made the remark in an answer to a question regarding Kim Jong-nam’s alleged ties to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency(CIA). 

Kim Jong-nam was the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un who was assassinated by the nerve agent VX in Malaysia in 2017 in an attack Pyongyang is suspected of orchestrating.

Pompeo declined to elaborate on the issue, saying his past principle as a former CIA director not to "comment on intelligence matters in any way” still applies to him now. 

He said Americans should rest assured that the U.S. government is taking all the necessary actions to ensure it understands the risks and the threats that are posed by North Korea.

He said as the U.S.’ top diplomat, he is trying to achieve diplomatic outcomes to keep nuclear weapons out of the North’s hands.

Pompeo is expected to accompany U.S. President Donald Trump to Seoul later this month and will likely discuss ways to break through an impasse that has persisted in U.S.-North Korea relations since the breakdown of the Hanoi summit in February.