Pompeo accepts North Korea’s offer for talks
Denuclearization plans will be among the discussions
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accepted an invitation from North Korea on Wednesday to return to Pyongyang next month, a sign that denuclearization talks will resume after President Donald Trump canceled a meeting last month citing a “lack of progress.”
Pompeo will discuss securing the “final, fully verified denuclearization” of North Korea, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement, and “prepare for a second summit between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim [Jong Un].”
Pompeo made the announcement after meeting with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
The top U.S. diplomat left a Security Council session chaired by Trump to sit down with Ri and discuss next steps, said a senior State Department official. The trip will focus on laying a foundation for a successful summit, the official said, and creating a basis for more negotiations.
Pompeo’s previously scheduled trip, which would have been his fourth visit to the isolated country, was canceled after the U.S. received a letter from Kim Yong Chol, the North’s top nuclear negotiator, that diplomats described as “rude” and insulting.
At the time, Trump blamed the lack of progress in the denuclearization talks on China, Pyongyang’s critical ally. “I do not believe they are helping with the process of denuclearization as they once were,” Trump tweeted. He said Beijing’s change in behavior was due to his administration’s “much tougher Trading stance with China.”
On Wednesday, however, Trump thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping during a U.N. Security Council meeting, saying working with the Chinese leader on the North Korea issue “has been a pleasure and an honor.”
Trump also said he had received a letter from Kim and that a second summit would come “very quickly.”