Pompeo Says ‘Bad Deal’ with North Korea Not an Option, Hopeful about Summit

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday the United States is prepared to walk away from nuclear negotiations with North Korea if an upcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un heads in the wrong direction, Reuters reported.

“A bad deal is not an option,” Pompeo said in his written opening statement for a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. “The American people are counting on us to get this right. If the right deal is not on the table, we will respectfully walk away.”

Pompeo expressed hope the summit will take place on June 12 in Singapore as scheduled after Trump said on Tuesday there was a “substantial chance” it will be called off amid concerns Pyongyang is not prepared to give up its nuclear arsenal.

Pompeo said a US-led sanctions pressure campaign on Pyongyang would not be eased until North Korea gives up nuclear weapons and that the United States had no intention of making concessions to Pyongyang.

“Our posture will not change until we see credible steps taken toward the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” Pompeo said.

Pompeo said Trump would be leading the talks but declined to discuss how many people, or who, would be on the summit team.

Pompeo, who was director of the CIA before becoming secretary of state in April when Trump fired Rex Tillerson, has met twice with Kim in Pyongyang. On his most recent trip he brought back three Americans who had been held by North Korea.