ANCHORAGE, Alaska: China will be part of the solution to the North Korean crisis, U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday, brushing…
ANCHORAGE, Alaska: China will be part of the solution to the North Korean crisis, U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday, brushing aside the possibility that worsening U. S. tensions with Beijing could hamper efforts to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.
Speaking to a pool reporter en route to his fourth visit this year to North Korea, Pompeo said the aim of his talks in Pyongyang at the weekend would be “to make sure we understand what each side is truly trying to achieve.”
He said he also hoped to be able to agree a “general date and location” for a second summit between U. S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Asked whether increasing tensions with China would hamper his efforts after Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday signalled a tough new approach to Beijing going beyond a bitter trade war, Pompeo said China had consistently made clear it wanted to see North Korean denuclearization.
“And they have said in spite of places where we have disagreements and other things – we have had disagreement on trade and the like – that they are determined to support our efforts to see this through to its completion, consistently since we first began this process,” he said.
