U.S.: North Korea promises to destroy enrichment facilities

North Korea has promised to destroy all its facilities for making nuclearbomb fuel, the top U. S. top negotiator said, in a sign that President Donald Trump is seeking clearer disarmament steps from his upcoming summit with Kim Jong Un.

North Korea has committed “to the dismantlement and destruction” of all its uranium- and plutonium- enrichment facilities in talks with both Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and South Korean leaders, Stephen Biegun, the U. S.’ special representative for North Korea, said in a speech Thursday. The pledge goes beyond the Yongbyon nuclear plant, which Kim has previously offered to demolish, Biegun said at Stanford University.

“This complex of sites extending beyond Yongbyon represents the totality of the North Korean plutonium- reprocessing and uranium- enrichment programs,” Biegun said. He added that North Korea wanted the U. S. to take “corresponding measures” — which he would discuss with North Korean officials in upcoming talks.

Biegun’s comments — his first public speech in five months as Pompeo’s special envoy — offered a rare insight into the administration’s approach to North Korea that offi-

cials had previously declined to provide. They appeared to be part of a coordinated rollout to signal that substantive negotiations with Pyongyang were underway ahead of a second summit between Trump and Kim in February

im has made no commitments to let North Korea’s arsenal be inspected or dismantled since agreeing to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” in his first meeting with Trump in June. His agenda ranges from sanctions relief to restart economic projects to formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War to weakening the U.S.-South Korean military alliance.

Earlier in the day, Trump said he would announce next week the time and place of the summit, which is expected to take place in late February in Vietnam. As Biegun was speaking, the State Department announced he would fly to South Korea on Sunday for more meetings, including with his North Korean counterpart.

While the president continues to say that North Korea’s lack of missile and nuclear tests for more than a year were key achievements, leaked intelligence reports and analysis of satellite imagery suggests Kim has used the time to stockpile more nuclear material and missiles.