The US has made "real progress" toward a historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after a series of meetings this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday, with North Korea considering a "strategic shift" and a new path forward without nuclear weapons, abc7 reported.

But Pompeo was still referring to the meeting as a "proposed summit" and said he couldn't say for sure whether it might be announced after a top North Korean official he's been meeting with hand-delivers a letter from Kim to the president on Friday.

"It does no good if we're in a place where they don't think there's real opportunity to place them together," Pompeo said during a news conference in New York Thursday. He added that he still does not know whether the summit will happen, but the two sides had made "real progress in the last 72 hours towards setting the conditions" to make it successful.

Kim Yong Chol and his delegation will now head to Washington to present a letter from Kim Jong Un to Trump in person, a senior State Department official confirmed. They will not travel with Secretary Pompeo, but he will also attend the meeting, although it's unclear where it will take place.