North Korea says talks with Mike Pompeo regretful
SEOUL/TOKYO: North Korea said on Saturday its resolve to give up its nuclear programmes may falter after talks with the US in Pyongyang, contradicting secretary of state Mike Pompeo who lauded progress made on nearly all key issues.
The contrast between Pyongyang and Washington cast a cloud over future negotiations, raising questions over whether the North is committed to abandoning the nuclear programmes it has developed for decades and sees as key to its survival.
Pompeo, who had a day and a half of talks in Pyongyang, had sought to hammer out details on how to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear programmes, such as a timeline to denuclearisation and a plan on declaring its related facilities.
But the result of the negotiations was that “We can’t but be very apprehensive,” and Pyongyang was “regretful” about the attitude and position presented by the US side, a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.
The official accused Pompeo’s delegation of insisting on unilateral complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation (CVID), which counters the spirit of the unprecedented summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12.
“We expected that the US side would bring itself with a constructive proposal,” the spokesman said, without elaborating.
“But, the US side came up only with its unilateral and gangsterlike demand for denuclearisation just calling for CVID, declaration and verification.”
The North Korean spokesman said a “shortcut” to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula was through a step-by-step approach under which both sides took steps at the same time.
“The high-level talks this time brought us in a dangerous situation where we may be shaken in our unshakable will for denuclearisation, rather than consolidating trust between the DPRK and the US.”
There was no immediate comment on the KCNA statement from state department.