Pompeo ‘optimistic’ about ending NoKor’s nuclear program

SINGAPORE (Reuters) — The process of ending North Korea’s nuclear program would take time, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday said, but he was optimistic it would be achieved within a timeline set by the leaders of the two countries.

It was important to maintain diplomatic and economic pressure, Pompeo said on the sidelines of an Asian regional conference, adding the US took very seriously any relaxation of United Nations sanctions against North Korea.

“I’m optimistic that we will get this done in the timeline and the world will celebrate what the UN Security Council has demanded,” Pompeo told a news conference.

“The work has begun. The process of achieving denuclearization of the (Korean) peninsula is one that I think we have all known would take some time,” he added.

Pompeo said there was every reason to believe the reports about Russia’s issuance of visas to North Korean workers were accurate, which would be in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

“I want to remind every nation that has supported these resolutions that this is a serious issue and something that we will discuss with Moscow,” he said.

“We expect the Russians and all countries to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions and enforce sanctions on North Korea,” he added.

Russia has denied a report by the Wall Street Journal that said Moscow was allowing thousands of fresh North Korean laborers into the country and granting them work permits in a potential breach of UN sanctions.

Russia’s ambassador to North Korea also denied Moscow was flouting UN restrictions on oil supplies to North Korea.

Pompeo flew to Singapore, where the US and North Korean leaders held a landmark summit in June, to attend meetings of the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.

In a group photo session at an ASEAN security forum, Pompeo walked up to North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, who was also attending, and shook hands and exchanged words and smiles.

Pompeo, who has been leading the US negotiations to get the North to abandon its nuclear program, had primarily engaged with Kim Yong Chol, a top North Korean party official and former spy agency chief, and not Ri.