ROK says Pompeo’s canceled visit impacts DPRK office plans

SEOUL — The Republic of Korea’s presidential Blue House said Monday that the cancellation of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will influence the opening date of the inter-Korean liaison office.

Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-keum told a press briefing that he “cannot say there will be no influence” of the canceled visit.

“We were thinking of the opening of the liaison office as part of a smooth series of schedules including Secretary of State Pompeo’s North Korea (DPRK) visit then the interKorean summit,” Kim said. “Now that a new situation has arisen, there is a need to inspect it again accordingly.”

Blue House officials said he was referring to the timing of the opening rather than the project as a whole.

ROK President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un agreed to set up the joint liaison office in the DPRK border town of Kaesong after holding their first summit on April 27 at the border village of Panmunjom.

The inter-Korean liaison office was widely forecast to be launched by the end of this month.

The spokesman said the opening date had been set to coincide with Pompeo’s visit and the third Moon-Kim summit, scheduled to take place by the end of September.

However, the opening date needed to be re-considered as new situations emerged, he said.

Pompeo was originally scheduled to travel to Pyongyang this week, but US President Donald Trump told him not to make the trip because he felt “we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”.

Trump, however, tweeted that Pompeo looked forward to visiting the DPRK in the near future, saying he would like to “send my warmest regards and respect” to the DPRK leader and look forward to seeing him “soon”.

The Blue House spokesman said the ROK was waiting for the DPRK’s response, saying that the opening date of the joint liaison office should be discussed with the DPRK side.