U.S. officials are planning to travel to Singapore this weekend for talks with North Korean counterparts in preparation for next month's meeting between President Donald Trump and the North's leader Kim Jong Un, U.S. media reported Wednesday.

The news came before Trump said he will decide next week whether he will proceed with a June 12 summit with Kim in Singapore as scheduled.

"We will know next week about Singapore. And if we go, I think it will be a great thing for North Korea," Trump told reporters, a day after he suggested the upcoming meeting may not take place amid growing concerns that Kim might be reluctant to abandon his nuclear weapons.

(U.S. President Donald Trump)
[Getty/Kyodo]

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States is prepared to walk away from negotiations with North Korea unless Washington sees the "right deal" for denuclearization.

"A bad deal is not an option," Pompeo said in a written statement to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "If the right deal is not on the table, we will respectfully walk away."

Earlier Wednesday, the Washington Post reported White House aides are preparing to travel to Singapore this weekend for a "crucial meeting" with North Korean officials to discuss the agenda and logistics for what will be the first U.S.-North Korea summit.

The White House negotiation team includes Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Hagin and deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the situation.

The Associated Press ran a similar report, saying a White House team led by Hagin is heading to Singapore this weekend to work on logistics for the summit.

(North Korean Embassy in Singapore)

But the outlook for planning remains uncertain, given that a North Korean delegation failed to show up for a similar meeting with U.S. officials less than two weeks ago in Singapore -- a lapse that raised red flags for the White House, the Post said.

North Korea abruptly changed its tone last week when it threatened to call off the Trump-Kim summit if Washington demands "unilateral nuclear abandonment" by Pyongyang.

On Thursday, North Korea again warned that it may cancel the summit, criticizing U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's recent remarks that Kim may face the same fate as former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was toppled and killed in 2011.

"In case the U.S. offends against our goodwill and clings to unlawful and outrageous acts, I will put forward a suggestion to our supreme leadership for reconsidering the U.S. summit," Choe Son Hui, a senior North Korean official in charge of negotiations with the United States, was quoted as saying by state media.

Gaddafi, who agreed to abandon his nascent nuclear weapons program in the early 2000s, was overthrown and killed after a North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led coalition intervened in support of an uprising in the North African country in 2011.

(North Korean leader Kim Jong Un)
[KCNA/Kyodo]

Kim is believed to be concerned that even if Pyongyang gives up all its nuclear weapons in return for U.S. security assurances, Washington could break its promise, attempting to invade North Korea or overthrow the regime.

According to the Washington Post, Pompeo outlined his expectations for "a fast and comprehensive denuclearization plan for the (Korean) Peninsula" during his meeting with Kim earlier this month in Pyongyang.

Kim focused on "logistical issues and lingering North Korean concerns about the long-term integrity of a security guarantee from the United States," it said, quoting individuals familiar with the Pompeo-Kim meeting.

Speaking at the congressional panel Wednesday, Pompeo, in reference to his talks with Kim, said the North's leader "wanted security assurances from the world."

(U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo)
[Getty/Kyodo]

The United States could provide North Korea with private-sector investment, including business know-how, as well as government aid to boost the cash-strapped economy in return for Pyongyang dismantling its nuclear arsenal in a verifiable way, he said.

"It's my hope that when he (Kim) and President Trump get a chance to be together that we can get the North Koreans to make the strategic shift about how best to serve the country," the chief U.S. diplomat said.

"That the nuclear weapons program isn't, in fact, the thing that keeps the regime in power, but the thing that prevents the regime from being in a place it wants to be with economic success."

Pompeo underlined that the United States will continue its campaign of "maximum pressure" and economic sanctions on North Korea until Washington sees Pyongyang take "credible steps" toward the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

"When I spoke to him (Kim), I could not have been clearer about the scope of the verification work that would be required, all of the elements that would be necessary in order for America to understand that there had been real denuclearization," he said.