SEOUL: A senior South Korean official said Friday “new progress” on North Korea could come within days, with a local report saying the Trump administration has decided to approve humanitarian sanctions exemptions for Pyongyang.

In a meeting with reporters in the United States, the senior official said Seoul has made considerable efforts to bring North Korea to dialogue.

“There could be some new progress in the coming days” on North Korea, the government official said on condition of anonymity.

Washington has long demanded that Pyongyang give up its banned nuclear weapons program, with the country under successive rounds of UN sanctions over it.

The South Korean senior official’s comments came while addressing US President Donald Trump’s scheduled trip to China in April.