‘Sanctions will remain until N Korea scraps nuclear bombs’
MIKE POMPEO, the US secretary of state, stressed yesterday that there would be no sanctions relief for North Korea while it still has nuclear weapons, showing the first signs of a rift with Pyongyang over the outcome of Tuesday’s historic summit in Singapore.
On Wednesday, North Korea’s staterun media reported that Donald Trump, the US president, had discussed lifting sanctions with Kim Jong-un during their six-hour meeting.
“The president expressed the possibility of suspending Us-south Korea joint military exercises … and, as progress is made from dialogue and negotiations, lifting sanctions against DPRK,” said the Korean Central News Agency.
But following a debriefing with Kang Kyung-wha, the South Korean foreign minister, and Taro Kono, her Japanese counterpart, Mr Pompeo told reporters that Mr Trump had been clear with Kim that sanctions would only be addressed after “complete denuclearisation”.
Mr Pompeo has deflected criticism that the summit accord does not explicitly contain the term “complete, verifiable, irreversible, dismantlement (CVID)” when referring to denuclearisation.
Washington has described CVID as one of its red lines, and its omission in the final declaration signed by Kim and Mr Trump has raised questions about how much progress has actually been made towards disarmament.
Mr Pompeo’s remarks came as footage emerged of Mr Trump saluting a North Korean general at the summit.
General No Kwang Chol saluted the president, who awkwardly returned the gesture. It is considered highly unusual for a US president to return the salute of a general from a hostile power.