New York
Following more than two hours of formal talks with Kim’s right-hand aide, Vice Chairman Kim Yong Chol, Pompeo spoke as though the summit Trump had canceled last week likely was to be reinstated, but still framed it as an “expected” first meeting.
“Our two countries face a pivotal moment,” to work for peace, Pompeo told reporters after the unusual sit-down sessions with an official banned from traveling to the United States without a special waiver.
“It would be nothing short of tragic to let this opportunity go to waste,” Pompeo said.
Kim Yong Chol will travel to Washington today to deliver a “personal letter” from Kim Jong Un, Pompeo said, adding that he does not know whether that means a formal announcement is likely today that the summit is back on.
“We’ve made real progress in the last 72 hours toward setting the conditions,” under which Trump and the North Korean leader could have a productive meeting in Singapore, Pompeo said.
But when asked point blank whether a summit will happen on June 12, Pompeo acknowledged succinctly, “Don’t know.”
He said the path to an agreement with Pyongyang would not be “straightforward,” and warned, “This is going to be a process that will take days and weeks to work our way through.” This is a difficult, difficult challenge, make no mistake about it. There remains a great deal of work to do.”
Despite real signs of progress, not only in New York but in separate talks in the Demilitarized Zone and in Singapore, Pompeo struck a note of caution when he said,
The summit, if it happens, would mark an extraordinary turnaround from last year, when Trump threatened to rain “fire and fury” on North Korea if it threatened the United States with nuclear weapons.
The goal of talks with North Korea is that the country gives up its nuclear weapons in exchange for what Pompeo called the possibility of a prosperous future. He said the North Korean officials he and other U.S. diplomats are engaging this week are well aware of the U.S. demand, although outside analysts and former diplomats say North Korea is unlikely to ever completely eradicate its arsenal.
The United States thinks Kim is a leader who could make that strategic choice, Pompeo said.
Both countries, Pompeo said, enter possible negotiations with “eyes wide open and with a clear understanding of the possibilities for the future.”
The State Department had said Pompeo and Kim had concluded their meeting at 11:25 a.m., two hours earlier than expected. But Pompeo told reporters the sessions ran as long as needed to make progress and dismissed the suggestion that the two men had hit an impasse.
Trump canceled the planned summit last week, blaming “hostility” from North Korea, and U.S. officials said Pyongyang had been uncooperative in finalizing the details.
A flurry of diplomacy has followed to put the meeting back on track, including the extraordinary scene of the American secretary of state welcoming an accused North Korean spy chief to two days of meetings over tea in a luxury Manhattan apartment.