Pompeo: ‘Still a ways to go’ for denuclearized North Korea
SINGAPORE — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that while there’s “still a ways to go,” the United States remains “confident” in North Korea’s commitment to denuclearize.
Pompeo is attending an Asian security forum with North Korea’s foreign minister.
His comments yesterday in Singapore came after the White House announced Thursday that President Trump had received a new letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and responded quickly with a letter of his own. The correspondence, following up on their Singapore summit in June, came amid fresh concerns over Pyongyang’s commitment to denuclearization despite a rosy picture of progress painted by Trump.
Pompeo has taken the lead in negotiations with the North. He has traveled to Pyongyang three times since April and accompanied Trump to the summit.
He will be in the same room Saturday as his North Korean counterpart at the Association of South East Asian Nations’ annual regional forum. A separate meeting between the two is possible but has not been confirmed, according to State Department officials.
“Chairman Kim made a commitment to denuclearize,” Pompeo told reporters accompanying him to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “The world demanded that (he) do so in the U.N. Security Council resolutions. To the extent they are behaving in a manner inconsistent with that, they are in violation of one or both the U.N. Security Council resolutions, we can see we still have a ways to go to achieve the ultimate outcome we’re looking for.”
In an interview later with Singapore’s Channel NewsAsia, Pompeo was a little more optimistic. “We’re confident that Chairman Kim remains committed to denuclearization,” he said. “The world is counting on it.”
He said United Nations sanctions “will remain in place until we have full denuclearization in North Korea. So no matter how much progress we make, those sanctions will remain in place.”
On Thursday, Trump tweeted his thanks to the North Korean leader “for your nice letter — I look forward to seeing you soon!”
The White House did not provide details on the specific content of the letter from Kim, received Wednesday, or of Trump’s reply. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the letters addressed their commitment to work toward North Korea’s “complete denuclearization.”