ZCZC
BFF-05
NKOREA-JAPAN-NUCLEAR-US-SKOREA-CHINA-DIPLOMACY-POLITICS
Pompeo heads to Pyongyang, seeking progress on Trump-Kim summit
TOKYO, Oct 7, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headed to
Pyongyang Sunday for new talks with Kim Jong Un on denuclearisation and a
second US-North Korean summit.
Pompeo departed from Tokyo, where he spent the first leg of a tour that
will include stops in Pyongyang, South Korea and China.
“Next stop Pyongyang to meet with Chairman Kim and continue our work to
fulfill the commitments made (by) POTUS and Chairman Kim,” Pompeo tweeted,
using an acronym to refer to US President Donald Trump.
The trip will be Pompeo’s fourth to Pyongyang, as the contours of a
possibly historic US-North Korea deal take shape.
On the flight to Tokyo, Pompeo said his aim was to “develop sufficient
trust” between Washington and Pyongyang to inch towards peace.
“Then we are also going to set up the next summit,” said Pompeo.
However, he played down expectations for a major breakthrough.
“I doubt we will get it nailed but begin to develop options for both
location and timing for when Chairman Kim will meet with the president again.
Maybe we will get further than that,” said the top US diplomat.
In June, Trump met Kim in Singapore for the first-ever summit between the
countries.
No sitting US president has ever visited North Korea, which according to
human rights groups remains one of the most repressive countries on Earth.
Since the Singapore summit, which yielded what critics charge was only a
vague commitment by Kim towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, the
road towards warmer ties has been bumpy.
Trump scrapped a previously planned trip by his top diplomat to Pyongyang
after what he said was insufficient progress towards implementing the terms
of the Singapore declaration.
But the unorthodox US president has since declared himself “in love” with
the strongman in Pyongyang.
Pompeo’s stop in Tokyo before the summit was intended to reassure the US
ally that Washington’s diplomacy will not leave Japan out in the cold.
Speaking alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Pompeo said the two
historic allies would have a “fully coordinated, unified view of how to
proceed, which will be what is needed if we are going to be successful on
denuclearising North Korea.”
Japan, which has seen North Korean missiles fly over its territory and been
threatened with annihilation, has historically taken a hard line on Pyongyang
and stressed the need to maintain pressure on the regime.
More recently, however, Abe has said the only way to improve strained ties
is a face-to-face meeting with former international pariah Kim.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0836 hrs