WASHINGTON/PYONGYANG — The head of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) believes there is a “sense of optimism” among North Korea’s leaders after enjoying what he said was unprecedented access to the country. David Beasley spent two days in the capital, Pyongyang, and two outside it, accompanied by government minders. He said the country was working hard to meet nutritional standards, and hunger was not as high as in the 1990s. “There is a sense of turning a new page in history,” he said in an interview to the BBC. Beasley said: “One of the most powerful things that I saw was out in the countryside — it’s spring, they’re planting — there’s not mechanization, you’ve got oxen pulling ploughs, men and women in the fields. “It’s very structured, very organized, every foot and inch of dirt is being toiled with rakes and hoes and shovels and they’re literally planting crops up to the edge of the road, down embankments, using every available space, because it is a land that’s mostly mountainous. “I didn’t see starvation like you had in the famine back in the 1990s, that’s the good news. But is there a hunger issue, is there under-nutrition? There’s no question about it.” Meanwhile, the United States promised on Friday that it would work to rebuild North Korea’s sanctions-crippled economy if Kim Jong Un’s regime agrees to surrender its nuclear arsenal. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s vow came as senior US officials expressed growing optimism ahead of the landmark June 12 summit between Kim and President Donald Trump. Pompeo, who held talks Pyongyang’s young leader over the weekend, even said “we have a pretty good understanding between our two countries about what the shared objectives are.” He was speaking after talks with his South Korean opposite number Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha to coordinate Washington and Seoul’s preparations for the historic encounter. Many observers have warned Kim’s regime will try to drive a wedge between the allies as the summit approaches, playing Seoul’s fear of war against Washington’s nuclear concerns. But both Kang and Pompeo insisted that they agreed on the need for the “total, permanent and verifiable” denuclearization of the divided peninsula. Trump and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in are due to meet on May 22 at the White House for the next round of planning. Pompeo said the United States would remain on board to help develop the North’s economy, which has been devastated by its own mismanagement and crippling international sanctions. “If North Korea takes bold action to quickly denuclearize, the United States is prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on par with our South Korean friends,” he said. Since an ad hoc 1953 armistice put an end to active hostilities between the North and the South, South Korea has emerged from devastation to become a leading world economy. But the North has remained one of the world’s most isolated states and its outdated economy has been further battered by a UN-backed “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions. Over the past year Kim and Trump have added a personal touch to a half-century of international enmity, swapping insults and both openly threatening devastating direct military action. Kim’s regime also carried out missile tests that convinced US intelligence officials, including Pompeo in his former role as CIA chief, that North Korea could threaten US cities. But South Korea’s President Moon reached out to the North, reopening direct talks, and when Kim invited Trump to a summit to discuss disarmament the mood changed. Pompeo flew to Pyongyang for talks and to recover three released American detainees, and now a summit date has been set for June 12 in Singapore. — Agencies