The United States aspires to have North Korea as a „close partner“ and not an enemy, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday.
WASHINGTON — North Korea can look forward to „a future brimming with peace and prosperity“ if it agrees to quickly give up its nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged on Friday ahead of a historic summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.
„If North Korea takes bold action to quickly denuclearize, the United States is prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on the par with our South Korean friends,“ Pompeo told a news conference after talks with his South Korean counterpart in Washington.
„If Chairman Kim chooses the right path, there is a future brimming with peace and prosperity for the North Korean people,“ he said, adding that the United States had a track record of support for the Korean people that was „second to none.“
Pompeo, who returned from Pyongyang this week with three Americans who had been held prisoner by North Korea, said the release of men had helped set conditions for a successful meeting between Trump and Kim in Singapore on June 12.
However, his comments made clear that the two sides remained far apart on the key issue of what they mean by denuclearization.
Pompeo said he had „good, substantive“ conversations with Kim in Pyongyang in what was his second meeting with the North Korea leader in less that six weeks, and believed both sides understood the ultimate goal of the summit.
„We had good conversations, substantive conversations. Conversations that involved deep complex problems, challenges; the strategic decision that Chairman Kim has before him about how it is he wishes to proceed and if he is prepared, in exchange for the assurances we are ready to provide to him, if he is prepared to fully denuclearize.
