U.S., North Korea try to salvage summit
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sees ‘progress,’ but doesn’t know if meeting will take place June 12
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited progress Thursday toward salvaging a historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and what he called the “once in a lifetime opportunity” of ending the nuclear weapons threat from North Korea. Following more than two hours of formal talks with Kim’s right-hand aide, Vice-Chairman Kim Yong Chol, Pompeo spoke as though the summit Trump had cancelled last week was likely to be reinstated, but still framed it as an “expected” first meeting.
“Our two countries face a piv- otal moment,” to work for peace, Pompeo told reporters after the unusual sit-down sessions with an official banned from travelling to the United States without a special waiver.
“It would be nothing short of tragic to let this opportunity go to waste,” Pompeo said.
Kim Yong Chol will travel to Washington on Friday to deliver a “personal letter” from Kim Jong Un, Pompeo said, adding that he does not know whether that means a formal announcement is likely Friday that the summit is back on.
“We’ve made real progress in the last 72 hours toward setting the conditions,” under which Trump and the North Korean leader could have a productive meeting in Singapore, Pompeo said. But when asked point blank whether a summit will happen on June 12, Pompeo acknowledged succinctly, “Don’t know.”
He said the path to an agreement with Pyongyang would not be “straightforward,” and warned, “this is going to be a process that will take days and weeks to work our way through. This is a difficult, difficult challenge, make no mistake about it. There remains a great deal of work to do.”
The goal of talks with North Korea is that the country gives up its nuclear weapons in exchange for what Pompeo called the possibility of a prosperous future. He said the North Korean officials he and other U.S. diplomats are engaging this week are well aware of the demand, although outside analysts and former diplomats say North Korea is unlikely to ever completely eradicate its arsenal.
The United States thinks Kim is a leader who could make that strategic choice, Pompeo said.
Both countries, he said, enter possible negotiations with “eyes wide open and with a clear understanding of the possibilities for the future.”
The State Department had said Pompeo and Kim had concluded their meeting at 11:25 a.m., two hours earlier than expected. But Pompeo told reporters the sessions ran as long as needed to make progress and dismissed the suggestion that the two men had hit an impasse.