Pompeo in Japan to discuss NoKor en route to Pyongyang
TOKYO (AP) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday to make sure the two allies are on the same page before Pompeo travels to North Korea, where he’ll be under pressure to push Pyongyang toward giving up its nuclear weapons.
Pompeo’s diplomatic offensive in Asia comes as US President Donald Trump seeks to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a second time after their June summit in Singapore.
Pompeo told Abe that it is important for him to hear from the Japanese leader “so we have a fully coordinated and unified view” to successfully denuclearize North Korea. He will also meet with his Japanese counterpart, Foreign Minister Taro Kono, today before heading to Pyongyang on Monday. Tokyo is the first stop of his threeday East Asia tour, which also takes him to South Korea and China.
In Beijing, Pompeo will face tensions over trade and accusations of election interference. In contrast, Pompeo’s meetings with Abe and Kono should be more relaxed.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters Friday that they planned to work on deepening their cooperation in their efforts to achieve North Korea’s denuclearization. He did not elaborate.
The real diplomatic test for Pompeo will come in Pyongyang. He is expected to meet with Kim Jong-un and one of his most trusted aides, Kim Young-chol, a former intelligence official.
Speaking on his plane Friday, Pompeo said his mission was to “make sure that we understand what each side is truly trying to achieve ... and how we can deliver against the commitments that were made” in Singapore. He said they would develop options, if not finalize, the location and timing of a second Trump-Kim summit.
Trump and Kim made a vague “denuclearization” agreement at their summit but are deadlocked over how to achieve it.
Pompeo has repeatedly refused to discuss details of negotiations, including a US position on North Korea’s demand for a declared end to the Korean War. He has also distanced himself from an earlier stated goal of achieving North Korea’s nuclear weapons abandonment by the end of Trump’s term in January 2021.