Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S. C.) suggested on Sunday that China may have pressured North Korea to take a harder line against U. S. negotiators during…
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S. C.) suggested on Sunday that China may have pressured North Korea to take a harder line against U. S. negotiators during a recent visit to the isolated country by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo .
« I see China’s hands all over this, » Graham told « Fox News Sunday, » citing an ongoing trade war between the U. S. and China as Beijing’s possible motivation. « We’re in a fight with China. »
Graham’s comments came a day after the North Korean foreign ministry released a lengthy statement, condemning U. S. negotiators’ « gangster-like demand for denuclearization. »
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The criticism suggests that talks between the U. S. and North Korea to end the country’s nuclear program may take longer than President Trump has said. After the president left a landmark summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month, he declared that Pyongyang was « no longer a nuclear threat. »
Pompeo insisted that his visit to North Korea was « productive. » He fired back at the country’s criticism, saying if the U. S. requests for denuclearization « were gangster-like, the world is a gangster » – a reference to the widespread condemnation of the North’s nuclear ambitions at the United Nations.
Graham placed blame for the North’s colder attitude on Chinese influence, saying that the outbreak of a trade war between Beijing and Washington was to blame for the antagonism.
He also warned China against stepping up the trade conflict, saying that the U. S. has « more bullets than they do when it comes to trade. »
« We can hurt them more than they hurt us, » Graham said, adding that there is « no doubt » in his mind that China is » pulling the North Koreans back. »
“And to our North Korean friends, I can’t say the word ‘friend’ yet, » he added. « You asked Pompeo: ‘Did he sleep well?’ If you knew what I knew about what we could do to the leadership of North Korea, you wouldn’t sleep very well.“
–This report was updated at 10:21 a.m.
