Pompeo: U.S. hopes to have ‘close partner,’ not enemy

The United States aspires to have North Korea as a “close partner” and not an enemy, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday, noting that the U.S. has often in history become good friends with former adversaries.

Pompeo said he had told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of that hope during his brief visit to Pyongyang earlier this week, during which he finalized details of the upcoming June 12 summit between Kim and President Donald Trump and secured the release of three Americans imprisoned in the country.

He said his talks with Kim on Wednesday had been “warm,” “constructive,” and “good” and that he made clear that if North Korea gets rid of its nuclear weapons in a permanent and verifiable way, the U.S. is willing to help the impoverished nation boost its economy and living stands to levels like those in prosperous South Korea.

“We had good conversations about the histories of our two nations, the challenges that we have had between us,” Pompeo told reporters at a news conference with South Korea’s visiting foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha. “We talked about the fact that America has often in history had adversaries who we are now close partners with and our hope that we could achieve the same with respect to North Korea.”

He did not mention other adversaries by name, but Pompeo and others have often noted that the U.S. played a major role in rebuilding Japan and the European axis powers in the wake of World War II. With U.S. help, those countries recovered from the devastation of conflict.

Alex Brandon / Associated Press Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, speaks during a media availability with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha at the State Department on Friday in Washington.

Olivier Douliery / TNS President Donald Trump speaks about lowering drug prices as Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar listens during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House on Friday in Washington.