The Trump administration is watching North Korea “closely,” but still remains “hopeful” that the country will abandon its nuclear weapons and pursue a path of peace, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday.

Pompeo’s comments come with less than 48 hours remaining before North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s publicly declared year-end deadline for negotiations with the U.S. — and no obvious resolution in sight.

For months, the two nuclear-armed nations have been locked in a diplomatic stalemate, unable to agree on seemingly any of the most pressing questions related to sanctions relief, the fate of Pyongyang’s nuclear