Pompeo arrives in N Korea to finalize Trump-Kim summit

PYONGYANG, North Korea — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in North Korea on Wednesday to finalize details of a historic summit planned between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump announced the mission in Washington on Tuesday just minutes before Pompeo arrived in Japan to refuel before flying on to Pyongyang, and as the president declared he was withdrawing from a landmark nuclear deal with another bitter U.S. adversary, Iran. U.S. officials say Pompeo will also press North Korea for the release of three detained American citizens, whose imminent release Trump has been hinting at. His trip comes just days after North Korea expressed displeasure with Washington for comments suggesting that massive U.S. pressure had pushed Kim to the negotiating table.

Pompeo, who first traveled to North Korea as CIA chief in early April, is only the second sitting secretary of state to visit the reclusive nation with which it is still technically at war. The first was Madeleine Albright in 2000 who went as part of an unsuccessful bid to arrange a meeting between then President Bill Clinton and Kim’s father Kim Jong Il.

“At this very moment, Secretary Pompeo is on his way to North Korea in preparation for my upcoming meeting with Kim Jong Un,” Trump said at the White House.

“Plans are being made, relationships are building, hopefully a deal will happen and with the help of China, South Korea and Japan a future of great prosperity and security can be achieved for everyone,” he said.

Pompeo flew out of Washington under cover of darkness late Monday aboard an Air Force 757 accompanied by a handful of senior aides, a security detail and two journalists: one from The Associated Press and one from The Washington Post, who were given roughly four hours’ notice of his departure. The flight arrived Wednesday morning and North Korean officials were on hand to greet the American diplomat.

Pompeo’s first trip to Pyongyang over Easter weekend before he was confirmed as secretary of state was a closely held secret. News of it did not emerge just before his Senate confirmation vote less than two weeks ago. It was not clear if Kim would meet Pompeo on Wednesday.

Pompeo told reporters aboard his plane that his first visit was to test the North Korean’s seriousness of pledges to South Korea on easing tensions. This trip is “to put in place a framework for a successful summit,” he said.

Although there were no guarantees that the American prisoners would be freed during Pompeo’s visit, U.S. officials said their release would be significant goodwill gesture ahead of the Trump-Kim summit that is expected later this month or in early June.