Still Kim possible
Pompeo: Talks on right track
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday said he could not promise that the summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un was back on — but added that the US and North Korea were making progress in their ongoing discussions.
Pompeo and top North Korean official Kim YongYong-chol concluded two days of talks in New York in advance of a possible summit, which originally was scheduled for June 12 in Singapore before Trump canceled it.
“I’m confident we’re moving in the right direction. Vice Chairman Kim and I discussed how our countries could come together and create [new] visions of the future,” Pompeo said at a Midtown press conference.
“This is going to be a process that will take days and weeks to work our way through.”
North Korea, Pompeo said, has always believed that its nuclear-weapons program was the only way the regime could guarantee its survival.
But while the Trump administration was still insisting on complete denuclearization, there were other ways that the North’s security could be assured, he added.
“Our two countries face a pivotal moment in our relationship in which it would be nothing short of tragic to let this opportunity go to waste,” Pompeo said.
Kim Yong-chol was expected to visit Washington on Friday with a letter from North Korea’s leader.
Asked whether he’d know by week’s end if the summit was a go, Pompeo said, “Don’t know. Don’t know the answer to that,” adding that talks could continue for the foreseeable future.
“It should not be to anyone’s surprise that there will be moments along the way that this won’t be straightforward, that there will be things that look hard and times it appears there’s a roadblock and sometimes perhaps even perceived as insurmountable,” he said.
But, he added, Trump and the North Korean dictator could make history if the North agrees to denuclearize in ex- change for guaranteed security.
“If these talks are successful, it will truly be historic. It will take bold leadership from Kim Jong-un, if we are to seize this once in a lifetime opportunity to change the course of the world,” he said.
“We believe Chairman Kim is the kind of leader who can make those decisions and in the upcoming weeks and month, we can test whether this is the case.”
Pompeo met with Kim Yong-chol at the Murray Hill apartment of Jonathan Cohen, the new deputy US ambassador to the UN who has yet to move in.