North Korea lashes out at US over 'regrettable' denuclearization talks with Pompeo. Here's why.

North Korea is lashing out at the United States following two days of high-level denuclearization discussions between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol, a senior aide to North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un.

What are the details?

The North Korean delegation said Saturday the high-level discussions were "regrettable" and accused the U.S. delegation of strong-arming North Korea into unilateral denuclearization without offering anything in return.

According to the Associated Press, the North accused the U.S. of betraying the spirit of the summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un last month by making "one-sided and robber-like" for the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea."

The development is "very concerning," the North Koreans said, because it has led to a "dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm."

"We had expected that the U.S. side would offer constructive measures that would help build trust based on the spirit of the leaders’ summit ... we were also thinking about providing reciprocal measures,” a spokesman for the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement, North Korean state-media reported.

“However, the attitude and stance the United States showed in the first high-level meeting (between the countries) was no doubt regrettable," the spokesperson added, according to the AP.

What did the Trump administration say?

Pompeo touted very different sentiment when he left Pyongyang for Tokyo on Saturday. He said the discussions, which ended without Pompeo meeting Kim Jong Un, were "productive" and resulted in "a great deal of progress."

However, Pompeo stressed that "there’s still more work to be done" for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

In addition, Pompeo said he discussed the repatriation of U.S. solider remains from the Korean War. A meeting to begin collecting remains will take place between a team from the Pentagon and North Korea at the South-North border next week, Pompeo explained.