CIA chief in secret meeting with Kim
THE director of the CIA was deployed as a top-secret envoy to North Korea to meet its leader Kim Jong-un, it emerged yesterday.
Donald Trump claimed a ‘good relationship was formed’ when Mike Pompeo, now his nominee for Secretary of State, met the dictator ahead of planned face-to-face talks between the US President and Kim later this year. The extraordinary visit earlier this month marks the highest-level contact between the United States and North Korea since 2000.
Mr Trump said it ‘went smoothly’, with details about the first meeting between a sitting US President and North Korean leader ‘being worked out now’.
After ordering a barrage of missile tests last year, which antagonised the international community and drew him into a heated war of words with Mr Trump, Kim has started engaging in diplomatic discussions over his nuclear programme.
Yesterday Mr Trump tweeted from his Florida estate, where he was hosting Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
‘Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!’ he wrote. Mr Trump had disclosed on Tuesday that the US and North Korea were holding direct talks at ‘extremely high levels’ in preparation for a possible summit.
He said five locations were under consideration for the meeting, which could take place by early June. Mr Pompeo, who has a hawkish reputation, was recently nominated by Mr Trump to replace Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.
It is predicted that his role will be confirmed within weeks. However, there is strong Democratic opposition to his candidacy.
At a Senate hearing last week on his nomination, Mr Pompeo played down expectations for a breakthrough deal on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme at the summit.
It could, however, lay the groundwork for a comprehensive agreement on denuclearisation, he said.
The Washington Post, which first reported the meeting, said it took place over the Easter weekend, just over two weeks ago – shortly after Mr Pompeo received the nomination.
Kim’s offer for a summit was initially conveyed to Mr Trump by South Korea last month, and the President shocked many by accepting it.
Over the past two weeks US officials had indicated that North Korea’s government had communicated directly with Washington that it was ready to discuss its nuclear weapons programme.
The planned summit would be the first between the US and North Korea in more than six decades of hostility since the Korean War. Next week, in another sign of thawing relations, Kim is due to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the demilitarised zone between the two countries.
China, North Korea’s closest ally, said it welcomed direct contact and talks between the US and North Korea.