PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrapped up two days of talks with senior North Korean officials on Saturday without meeting Kim Jong Un but with commitments for new discussions on denuclearization and the repatriation of the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War.

.@SecPompeo addresses reporters following two days of meetings in #DPRK. pic.twitter.com/c7QISHYFNl

— Department of State (@StateDept) July 7, 2018

Before departing Pyongyang, Pompeo told reporters that his conversations with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol had been “productive,” conducted “in good faith” and that “a great deal of progress” had been made in some areas. But he stressed that “there’s still more work to be done” in other areas, much of which would be done by working groups that the two sides have set up to deal with specific issues.

Pompeo said that a Pentagon team would be meeting with North Korean officials on or about July 12 at the border between North and South Korea to discuss the repatriation of remains and that working level talks would be held soon on the destruction of North Korea’s missile engine testing facility.

In the days following his historic June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, President Donald Trump had announced that the return of the remains and the destruction of the missile facility had been completed or were in progress.

Pompeo, however, said that more talks were needed on both.

After two days of meetings in #DPRK we’re off to the airport. #tokyo is next where we’ll debrief our allies. @statedept pic.twitter.com/9NGHuNVI1L

— Heather Nauert (@statedeptspox) July 7, 2018

“We now have a meeting set up for July 12 — it could move by one day or two — where there will be discussions between the folks responsible for the repatriation of remains. (It) will take place at the border and that process will begin to develop over the days that follow,” he said as he boarded his plane for Tokyo.

On the destruction of the missile engine plant, Pompeo said, “We talked about what the modalities would look like for the destruction of that facility as well, and some progress there as well, and then we have laid out a path for further negotiation at the working level so the two teams can get together and continue these discussions.”

Earlier, Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol both said they needed clarity on the parameters of an agreement to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula that Trump and Kim Jong Un agreed to in Singapore. The trip was Pompeo’s third to Pyongyang since April and his first since the summit.

Unlike his previous visits, which have been one-day affairs during which he has met with Kim Jong Un, Pompeo spent the night at a government guesthouse in Pyongyang and did not see the North Korean leader, although U.S. officials had suggested such a meeting was expected. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said no meeting with Kim Jong Un had been planned.

As they began their talks on Saturday, Kim Yong Chol alluded to the fact that Pompeo and his delegation had stayed overnight in Pyongyang.

“We did have very serious discussions on very important matters yesterday,” Kim said. “So, thinking about those discussions you might have not slept well last night.”

Pompeo, who spoke with Trump, national security adviser John Bolton and White House chief of staff John Kelly by secure phone before starting Saturday’s session, replied that he “slept just fine.” He added that the Trump administration was committed to reaching a deal under which North Korea would denuclearize and realize economic benefits in return.

Kim later said that “there are things that I have to clarify” to which Pompeo responded that “there are things that I have to clarify as well.”

There was no immediate explanation of what needed to be clarified, but the two sides have been struggling to specify what exactly “denuclearization” would entail and how it could be verified to the satisfaction of the United States.

Got to be a fly on the wall watching @SecPompeo lead the U.S. delegation on the second day of talks in Pyongyang. pic.twitter.com/YJiE4CRwXW

— Heather Nauert (@statedeptspox) July 7, 2018

Pompeo and Kim met for nearly three hours Friday and then had dinner amid growing skepticism over how serious Kim Jong Un is about giving up his nuclear arsenal and translating the upbeat rhetoric following his summit with Trump into concrete action.

On his flight to Pyongyang, Pompeo said both sides made commitments at the Singapore summit on the complete denuclearization of North Korea and on what a transformed relationship between their two countries might look like.

One hoped-for breakthrough on this trip would have been the return of the remains of U.S. troops killed during the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea committed at last month’s summit to the “immediate repatriation” of remains already identified, but that hasn’t happened yet.

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By DAN MARGOLIES

After finding the Veterans Health Administration liable earlier this year for the suicide of an Iraq war veteran, a federal judge has awarded more than $480,000 to his father and two children.

In what was thought to be one of the few verdicts of its kind, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson ruled in February that the negligence of the VA directly contributed to the death of Cpl. William Draughon of Kansas City.

Draughon was a squad leader and gunner in Iraq for seven months in 2004 before he was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps.

After he returned to the Kansas City area, he began drinking heavily and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. During one of several hospitalizations at the Kansas City VA, he’d been flagged as being at high risk for suicide. Although no risk assessment was done, a suicide prevention coordinator at the hospital removed the high-risk flag from his electronic medical records 90 days later.

On St. Patrick’s Day, 2010, after arguing with his girlfriend, Draughon shot and killed himself in front of his girlfriend and brother. He was 28 years old.

His family, believing the VA had been negligent in its care of Draughon, sued the agency. Robinson’s order finding it liable is thought to be one of the few instances anywhere in the country where the VA has been held directly responsible for a veteran’s suicide.

In her ruling Monday, she awarded noneconomic damages – for pain and suffering and loss of companionship – of $125,000 to each of Draughon’s two young children, $75,000 to Draughon’s father and $1,000 to his biological mother. She also divided up another $154,608 in economic damages between the children and Draughon’s father.

“I think it’s notable that she didn’t decrease the award at all for what we call comparative fault or comparative negligence. The government had alleged that some of the fault should rest with Cpl. Draughon as well, and she didn’t decrease the award at all on that basis,” said Michael Raupp, an attorney at the Husch Blackwell firm who represented the Draughons.

Larry McMullen, another Husch Blackwell lawyer involved in the case, said they were hoping for a larger award, but the court was constrained by the cap Missouri imposes on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases. The cap used to be $350,000 but was increased by the Legislature several years ago to $700,000.

“We would have preferred she split the money three (equal) ways,” McMullen said. “But she said, no, these kids are going to live a whole lot longer than his dad and therefore will be deprived of his comfort and support for a lot longer than him and therefore I’m going to give them a little bit more.”

The VA has 60 days to appeal Robinson’s finding of liability and award of damages. A spokesman for the agency did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say an autopsy has been ordered after an inmate death earlier this week at the Jefferson City Correctional Center

Corrections officials say 27-year-old Joshua Black was pronounced dead at about 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Jefferson City News-Tribune reports that Black was serving a five-year prison sentence for tampering with a motor vehicle, resisting arrest and other charges from Callaway County and assault charges from Moniteau County.

He had been in prison since February 2015.

ST. PAUL, MN —A missing person alert issued Friday for a Kansas teen has been canceled. She was located safe in South St. Paul, Minn, according to Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The 23-year-old male who was with her is in custody.

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Authorities have issued an Amber Alert a for missing Kansas teen.

Amber Lynn Rewerts-Schiavoni, 13, Lenexa, was last seenon July 4, at approximately 1 pm at the Greyhound bus station in Kansas City, Missouri.

According to authorities she may have left on a Greyhound to the greater Minneapolis area or may still be in the KC metro area.

She is believed to be with 23-year-old Deshon White.

She is 5-foot-5, approximately 140 pounds with dyed black hair, blue eyes and was last seen wearing black t-shirt with “Sons of Anarchy” logo, black jeans, carrying a shiny blue billfold.

White is described as 5-foot- 9, 200 pounds with black and blonde or red hair.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Gov. Mike Parson has expanded drug take-back programs in Missouri.

The measure was signed into law Friday during a tour of Springfield. It will make it easier to discard unfinished prescriptions year-round by dropping them off at authorized sites such as pharmacies. Before, pharmacies were barred from taking prescriptions they did not dispense.

His office says in a news release that Parson signed eight bills in total.

One sharply restricts when the Department of Corrections can restrain pregnant prisoners. Another gives public universities the ability to increase tuition 5 percent on top of any inflation-related increases if their funding had been cut the year before.

Those new laws are on top of 15 Parson signed Thursday, including one that allows chiropractors to receive Medicaid reimbursements.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Overland Park police say a man shot by officers during a confrontation at an apartment complex has died.

Spokesman John Lacy said 43-year-old Charles Webb died Friday after being shot earlier in the day.

No police were injured.

Authorities were called to the apartment complex where a man and woman were arguing. Police say when the woman ran, the man began firing at random outside the apartment complex.

Lacy says Webb fired several shots at officers when they arrived at the scene and two officers fired back, hitting him. Webb died later at a hospital.

The two officers were placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation.

The woman involved in the earlier dispute was not injured.

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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Overland Park police say officers shot a man after he fired several rounds at officers.

Spokesman John Lacy said the confrontation occurred early Friday while officers were responding to reports of shots being fired.

Lacy says when police arrived, the suspect fired multiple times at them and several officers returned fire.

No police were injured.

The suspect is in critical condition at an area hospital.

No other information was immediately available.

HOUSTON, Mo. (AP) – A suspect in the death of a Minnesota girl who was living in Missouri has been released from prison but will remain on a tracking monitor.

Special prosecutor Steven Kretzer said Thursday 31-year-old Robert Peat Jr. will be released while the state investigates new developments in the 2017 death of 16-year-old Savannah Leckie.

Fragments of the girl’s bones were found in a burn pile at a home in Ozark County in southwest Missouri where she was living with Peat and Rebecca Ruud.

Ruud was Peat’s biological mother but gave her up for adoption to a Minnesota couple when the girl was born.

Peat and Ruud are charged with first-degree murder in the girl’s death.

Kretzer and Ozark County Sheriff Darrin Reed declined to elaborate on the new developments in the case.

KEARNEY, Mo. (AP)- A  Missouri woman whose two young children died after being found unresponsive on July Fourth is charged with assaulting her husband in the hours before the children were found.

Jenna Boedecker was charged Thursday with third-degree assault, armed criminal action and first-degree property damage. The Kansas City Star reports that police records indicate the charges stem from an argument with her husband.

Police say Boedecker found her 2-year-old and newborn daughters unresponsive Wednesday outside a home in a rural area northeast of Kansas City. Police haven’t said how the girls died.

Police initially said foul play wasn’t suspected. But on Thursday, the Clay County Sheriff said a squad of criminal investigators had been called in to help with the case.

No charges have been filed in the girls’ deaths.

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KEARNEY, Mo. (AP) – Two young sisters have been found dead in a rural area northeast of Kansas City.

Clay County sheriff’s Capt. Will Akin said the girls were found outside their home just after noon Wednesday by their mother and were not breathing. Both girls were under 5 years old.

Akin said foul play is not suspected and neither water nor firearms appear to have been involved, but the deaths are under investigation.

The incident was reported near the intersection of a rural road and Missouri 92 east of Kearney. The mother ran to a neighbor’s house and the neighbor called 911.