Pompeo to visit DPRK for nuclear talks
US top diplomat will try to cement Trump-Kim meeting consensus
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will head for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on Thursday to continue the ongoing work of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, the White House said on Monday.
At a news conference, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that Pompeo will meet with Kim Jong-un, the top leader of the DPRK, and his team on Thursday, as the US was “continuing to make progress” in talks with the DPRK, adding “there is great momentum right now for a positive change and we are moving together for further negotiations”.
The State Department also confirmed the trip, saying the top US diplomat will visit the DPRK from Thursday to Saturday.
According to the statement, Pompeo will “continue consultations and implement the forward progress made by (US) President (Donald) Trump and Chairman Kim in Singapore” during his stay in Pyongyang.
Refusing to confirm earlier reports that the DPRK is continuing with its nuclear program, Sanders said the US and the DPRK are continuing to make progress.
“I think a number of things have happened. One, in the last eight months you haven’t seen missile launches,” she said.
“You haven’t seen nuclear detonations. And again, these conversations are continuing to evolve. I’m not going to get into the details but I can tell you that progress continues to be made.”
The upcoming trip will mark Pompeo’s third known trip to Pyongyang as Washington continues to push for a deal to dismantle the DPRK’s nuclear program, potentially reducing tensions on the peninsula following the Singapore summit between Trump and Kim on June 12.
The Yonhap news agency in the Republic of Korea reported that Pompeo is the US’ “point man” for the denuclearization negotiations. It also said that Pompeo likely urged Pyongyang to take concrete steps toward denuclearization and repatriate the remains of US soldiers, based on the joint statement signed last month at the Kim-Trump meeting.
Liu Jiangyong, a professor at Tsinghua University, said Pompeo has insisted on solving the Korean Peninsula issue via dialogues in the Trump administration, adding that the successful holding of the KimTrump summit had been the result of Pompeo’s efforts at lobbying between the two sides.
Liu, however, said: “It’s easier to sit down and have talks but it’s difficult to solve pragmatic problems.”
The gap between Pyongyang and Washington is huge as the two hold different views of the timetable and the form of denuclearization, he said, adding that reaching a consensus is still the most pressing issue the two need to settle.
Earlier on Sunday, John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, said Washington has a plan to dismantle the majority of the DPRK’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs within a year, which Pompeo will discuss during his visit.
Bolton said that if Pyongyang has decided to give up its nuclear weapons program and is cooperative, then “we can move very quickly” and they can win sanctions relief and aid from related countries.
It is also expected that Pompeo will meet the leaders of both Japan and the ROK in Tokyo between Saturday and Sunday “to discuss our shared commitment to the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK, as well as other bilateral and regional issues”, the State Department said.
On Sunday, he will carry on to Hanoi for talks with the Vietnamese government and the week after continue on to the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi before arriving in Brussels on July 10.
There he will accompany Trump to the two-day NATO summit and meet European officials to discuss energy policy.
US secretary of state