Pompeo clears way for president
AMERICA’S top diplomat Mike Pompeo arrived in Pyongyang yesterday, landing at the centre of a whirlwind of diplomacy ahead of a planned US-North Korea summit.
Mr Pompeo was sent on an unannounced visit – his second in weeks, but first as Secretary of State – to lay the groundwork for President Donald Trump’s unprecedented meeting with Kim Jong-un.
His visit came as rumours flew over three US citizens being held in the North, with suggestions they may have been moved in preparation for a release. The rapid detente on the Korean peninsula triggered by the Winter Olympics is a marked contrast from last year, when Mr Kim and Mr Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.
“We think relationships are building with North Korea,” Mr Trump said in a televised address from the White House. “We will see how it all works out. Maybe it won’t. But it can be a great thing for North Korea, South Korea and the entire world.”
Mr Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month reaffirmed their commitment to a “common goal” of “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsula.