'Challenge remains the same!', says Mike Pompeo in case of leadership change in North Korea

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the United States of America will still be keeping eye on North Korea and will endeavour denuclearisation of the country no matter who heads the nation after Kim Jong-un.

According to the DailyNK's report, Kim Jong-un underwent heart surgery at the Hyang San Hospital instead of a hospital in Pyongyang which is an exclusive hospital for the North Korean leader and his family. The North Korean leader's current health condition is unknown to all, and Pompeo said he had met Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, whose recent rise in the hierarchy raised pundits’ view that she could succeed him.

To which Pompeo said,"I did have a chance to meet her a couple of times, but the challenge remains the same -- the goal remains unchanged -- whoever is leading North Korea."

Pompeo also assured a "brighter future" if the country gives up its nuclear weapons.

“They’ve got to denuclearise. We’ve got to do so in a way that we can verify. That’s true no matter who is leading North Korea,” he said.

Pompeo had arranged a historic meet in 2018 between Trump and Kim Jong after nearly 50 years of enmity.

North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un is being treated at hospital which is designated as exclusive for the Kim family, South Korean media reported on Thursday citing local sources.

The doctor who did Kim's heart surgery is an expert of cardiovascular-related diseases and is trained in Germany. After his Germany medical program, he was designated as a cardiovascular specialist for Kim Jong-un, the report also claimed.

The report claims that the doctor is so prized by the leadership that he travels with his bodyguards and lives in a carefully guarded section of Pyongyang.

The medical equipmentused in the hospital are also imported from Germany and Japan.

Earlier this month, Daily NK, an online media outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, said Kim underwent a cardiovascular procedure and was recovering at a villa in North Phyongan province.

"Excessive smoking, obesity and fatigue were the direct causes of Kim's urgent cardiovascular treatment," it cited an unidentified source inside the country as saying.