U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that he anticipates working-level talks with North Korea to resume in “a couple of weeks” despite the North's recent test-firing of two ballistic missiles.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Pompeo downplayed the launches as a negotiating tactic, saying that "everybody tries to get ready for negotiations and create leverage and create risk for the other side."

The U.S.’ top diplomat said that President Donald Trump has been consistent that the U.S. wants diplomacy to work and wants North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to deliver on the promise he made to Trump, which was the North's denuclearization.

Pompeo added that the U.S. remains convinced that there is a diplomatic way forward, and that he anticipates it will be "a couple of weeks" until working-level talks resume.

Following a surprise meeting between Trump and Kim on June 30, Pompeo said that working-level talks would "probably begin within two or three weeks," but that timeline came and went without any visible progress between the two sides.

[Photo : YONHAP News]