Pompeo to press Kim on nuclear issue
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is traveling to North Korea to press ruler Kim Jong Un on his stated willingness to disarm his nuclear arsenal, amid reports that Kim is expanding the program.
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was traveling to North Korea on Thursday to press ruler Kim Jong Un on his stated willingness to disarm his nuclear arsenal, amid reports that Kim is expanding the program.
The visit on Friday will be Pompeo’s third to Pyongyang, the capital, in three months, but the first since President Donald Trump held a summit with Kim in Singapore last month. Trump came away saying he trusted Kim to carry through with a promise that the two leaders put in writing to “work toward” denuclearization.
Pompeo hopes to get answers and a firmer commitment from the dictator, his aides said.
Two U.S. officials familiar with intelligence assessments, who would not be identified in discussing classified data, said that North Korea intends to hold on to at least a portion of its nuclear arsenal and continue production of long-range ballistic missiles.
Kim could still decide to give up a portion of his stockpile, which is estimated to include as many as 60 nuclear devices, in return for security guarantees from the United States, the officials said.
But there is evidence, they added, that he is taking steps to conceal parts of his stockpile and production facilities.
Trump, in comments to reporters Thursday as he flew to a political rally in Montana, again took credit for some success and hailed his “good chemistry” with Kim. “I shook his hand,” he said, adding, “I really believe that he sees a different future for North Korea.”
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, traveling with Pompeo, denied that the administration was going to soften its demands.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” she said. “Our policy toward North Korea has not changed. We are committed to a denuclearized North Korea.”