Pompeo visits Kim in N. Korea
Third meeting with dictator ‘productive’
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that he had concluded a “productive” meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, calling it another “step forward” in talks to dismantle the
East Asian nation’s nuclear arsenal.
Pompeo provided no details but said the talks focused on preparations for a second summit between Kim and President Donald Trump. The first, held in Singapore in June, produced a declaration that has formed the basis for continuing negotiations.
“There are many steps along the way, and we took one of those today,” Pompeo said in Seoul in public comments alongside South Korean President Moon Jae-in. “It was another step forward.”
Trump, meanwhile, tweeted his approval and said he would “look forward to seeing Chairman Kim again, in the near future.”
Pompeo flew to Seoul after about four hours in Pyongyang that included lunch with Kim. He also went to Tokyo, and from Seoul he is scheduled to continue to Beijing, as he attempts to advise regional governments on his efforts and ensure support.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert added that Pompeo and Kim had “refined options for the location and date of that next summit.”
Kim invited inspectors to visit the Punggye-ri nuclear test site to confirm that it has been irreversibly dismantled, Nauert added in a statement.
But the statement made no mention of Yongbyon, North Korea’s main nuclear facility. The South Korean government was encouraging the North to offer to dismantle part of Yongbyon, in exchange for the United States issuing a formal declaration of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, as “confidence-building” measures.
But the United States has been reluctant to issue such a declaration, concerned that doing so could undermine its military presence in the region.
It was Pompeo’s fourth trip to Pyongyang and third time he has met with Kim. In the most recent July trip, Kim did not receive Pompeo, and the North Korean accused the secretary of making “gangsterlike” demands.