Give up nukes, get rich: US to N. Korea
■ US offers prosperity at par with South
Washington, May 12: US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said on Saturday that if North Korea agrees to surrender its nuclear arsenal, Washington will work with Pyongyang to rebuild its tiny economy.
“If North Korea takes bold action to quickly denuclearise, the United States is prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on par with our South Korean friends,” he said.
Mr Pompeo was speaking after talks with South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung- wha to prepare for a historic June 12 summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Some observers are concerned that South Korea’s desire to build peaceful ties with the North may distance it over time from the US policy of seeking nuclear disarmament at any cost.
But both Kang and Pompeo insisted that they agreed on the need for the “total, complete, permanent and verifiable” denuclearisation of the divided peninsula. And Pompeo said the United States would remain on board to help develop the North’s economy, which has been devastated by its own mismanagement and crippling international sanctions. Mr Pompeo has had two recent meetings with Mr Kim to prepare for the summit and, last weekend, to negotiate the release of three Korean-Americans held in the North’s jails. He said he had had good conversations with Mr Kim, who he found to be a focused and rational interlocutor.
“We had good conversations, conversations that involve deep complex problems, challenges, strategic decisions that chairman Kim has before him,” Mr Pompeo said. The pair, he said, talked “about how it is he wishes to proceed and if he’s prepared, in exchange for the assurances that we’re ready to provide him, if he is prepared to fully denuclearise. “We’ll require a robust verification program, one that we would undertake with partners around the world which would achieve that outcome,” he warned.
Washington, May 12: The United States promised Friday that it would work to rebuild North Korea's sanctions- crippled economy if Kim Jong Un's regime agrees to surrender its nuclear arsenal.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's vow came as senior US officials expressed growing optimism ahead of the landmark June 12 summit between Kim and President Donald Trump.
Pompeo, who held talks with Pyongyang's young leader over the weekend, even said “we have a pretty good understanding between our two countries about what the shared objectives are.”
He was speaking after talks with his South Korean opposite number Foreign Minister Kang Kyung- wha to coordinate Washington and Seoul's preparations for the historic encounter.
Many observers have warned Kim's regime will try to drive a wedge between the allies as the summit approaches, playing Seoul's fear of war against Washington's nuclear concerns.
But both Kang and Pompeo insisted that they agreed on the need for the “total, permanent and verifiable” denuclearization of the divided peninsula.
Trump and South Korea's President Moon Jae- in are due to meet on May 22 at the White House for the next round of planning. Pompeo said the United States would remain on board to help develop the North's economy, which has been devastated by its own mismanagement and crippling international sanctions.
“If North Korea takes bold action to quickly denuclearize, the United States is prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on par with our South Korean friends,” he said.
Since an ad hoc 1953 armistice put an end to active hostilities between the North and the South, South Korea has emerged from devastation to become a leading world economy.
' Good conversations' But the North Korea has remained one of the world's most isolated countries and its outdated economy has been further battered by a United Nations- backed “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions
in recent years.
Over the past year Kim and Trump have added a personal touch to a halfcentury of international enmity, swapping insults and both openly threatening devastating direct military action.