Pompeo, Pyongyang show different takes on talks

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to North Korea ended Saturday with two very different accounts of the outcome of the three-day meeting, with Pompeo saying “a great deal of progress” had been made while Pyongyang suggested the talks did not go well and brought the two sides to a “dangerous situation.”

Chinese experts said that the different statements indicate that disputes remain over the denuclearization talks and China could help the two sides stick to their commitments on denuclearization and security assurances made at the Singapore summit.

“These are complicated issues but we made progress on almost all the central issues. Some places, a great deal of progress, other places, there’s still more work to be done,” Pompeo said briefly before leaving Pyongyang after his visit to North Korea from Thursday to Saturday, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday.

However, Korean Central News Agency released a statement from a spokesman of North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, saying that “the first DPRKUS high-level talks this time brought us in a dangerous situation where we may be shaken in our unshakable will for denuclearization, rather than consolidating trust between the DPRK and the US.”

The US only reiterated its unilateral demand for a complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization but didn’t address the issue of establishing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, according to the news agency’s release.

Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said that the different messages show a lack of trust on both sides.

“The two countries only reached a general agreement during the Singapore summit that North Korea is willing to denuclearize… But no exact time table or roadmap was given… Problems now arise when it comes to the details,” Da told the Global Times.

North Korean leader Kim Jongun did not meet Pompeo during this visit to Pyongyang, which further indicated disputes in the talks, Da said.

Pompeo visited Pyongyang in April and May, and met with Kim, Xinhua reported.

“Despite North Korea expressing regret over the talks, the doors are still open for the two sides to continue to negotiate,” said Da. “China can also make constructive efforts to help the two sides deliver on their commitments made during the Singapore summit, and maintain regional stability and peace around the Korean Peninsula, which is in line with China’s strategic security concerns in the region,” he added.

China has proposed a “dual-track” approach that urges both Washington and Pyongyang to meet each other halfway, reported Xinhua.