New U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has vowed to push for North Korea's denuclearization "without delay," saying that a bad North Korean nuclear deal is not an option.

Pompeo on Wednesday made the vow at his official swearing-in ceremony in Washington ahead of a planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. 

Pompeo said that the U.S. administration will not repeat the mistakes of the past and its eyes are wide open, adding that it’s time to solve this issue once and for all.

He stressed that the U.S. is committed to the permanent, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction program and to doing so without delay. 

Pompeo also described the current diplomatic engagement with North Korea as “an unprecedented opportunity to change the course of history on the Korean Peninsula.” He added that the U.S. is at the beginning stages of the work and the outcome is certainly yet unknown.

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