North Korean negotiators head to Stockholm: Yonhap

A top North Korean negotiator left for Sweden on Thursday ahead of nuclear talks with the United States, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

Kim Myong Gil departed Beijing on a flight to Stockholm with three other North Korean officials after arriving in the Chinese capital from Pyongyang earlier in the day, Yonhap added.

"(We) are heading to working-level negotiations with the US," Kim Myong Gil told reporters in Beijing, according to the agency.

"As the US side sent a new signal, I bear high expectations and optimism, and I am also optimistic about the results." The talks are planned to begin later this week, but the venue has not yet been confirmed by either side.

In a bid to break the deadlock over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had agreed to restart dialogue during an impromptu meeting in June.

The North Korean team's reported departure came a day after Pyongyang test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile, .