U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met North Korean officials in Pyongyang Friday, hoping to “fill in” details on how to dismantle the North’s nuclear program and recover the remains of U.S. troops missing from the Korean War. Pompeo met Kim Yong Chol, who played a key role with Pompeo in arranging last month’s summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, according to a pool report by reporters travelling with him. The talks lasted nearly three hours and it was uncertain whether Pompeo would meet Kim Jong Un before traveling to Tokyo Saturday. He spent the night in Pyongyang, his first overnight stay in North Korea. “We just wrapped our first meeting of the day,” Pompeo said. “I’m proud of my team’s work.”
At the Singapore summit, Kim Jong Un made a broad commitment to “work toward denuclearization,” but fell short on how or when he would dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program, which it has pursued in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Pompeo said he was seeking to “fill in” some details on North Korea’s commitments and maintain the momentum towards implementing the agreement from the summit, according to the pool report.
Pompeo would try to agree on at least an initial list of nuclear sites and an inventory that could be checked against the available intelligence, U.S. intelligence officials told Reuters.
Also high on the agenda is the issue of the remains of U.S. soldiers missing from the 1950-53 Korean War. Trump said after the Singapore summit that Kim had agreed to send the remains back to the United States.
Both issues are considered essential tests of whether Kim is serious about negotiations. North Korean officials have yet to demonstrate that in working-level talks, the intelligence officials said. “If they’re serious, then we can get down to the business of defining the terms of final denuclearization,” said one official.
Some officials in the State and Defense Departments and in U.S. intelligence agencies are worried that Trump has put himself at a disadvantage by overstating the results of the Singapore summit.
Pompeo’s talks, which resume Saturday, will be closely watched in the region. He is due to meet officials from allies South Korea and Japan in Tokyo also Saturday.
Reuters
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