U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to meet with a top North Korean official next week as they seek to arrange a second summit between the two
U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to meet with a top North Korean official next week as they seek to arrange a second summit between the two countries’ leaders, according to a South Korean report.
The meeting would likely take place on the U. S. East Coast, possibly in New York or Washington, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing a South Korean diplomatic source. The source said the meeting, which had originally been planned for the end of this month, would likely take place after the Nov. 6 midterm elections in the United States.
Asked about the report, a U. S. State Department spokeswoman told The Japan Times only that it had “no meetings to announce” at this time.
Any meeting would likely see Pompeo’s interlocutor as Kim Yong Chol, the hard-line, right-hand man of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Pompeo last met Kim Yong Chol in New York in May ahead of U. S. President Donald Trump’s landmark June summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore. Kim Yong Chol later traveled to the White House in Washington, hand delivering a letter from the North Korean leader to Trump.
Trump has said he expects to meet the North Korean leader after the elections in one of three or four locations. The exact timing of the second summit remains unclear, though U. S. national security adviser John Bolton has said it could happen early next year.
Trump has repeatedly boasted about what he says are North Korean steps toward denuclearization, hailing the absence of missile or nuclear tests this year and the return of remains of U. S. service members killed in the 1950-53 Korean War as “incredible progress.
