Trip will include stop in North Korea where US top diplomat hopes meet with leader Kim Jong Un
U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Japan Saturday where he met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Kono.
Heading to Asia on Friday, Pompeo said he hoped to develop options for the timing and location of the next summit between U. S. President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un.
His Asia tour will include a stop in North Korea, his fourth visit to the isolated nation, where he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“There are complex scheduling, logistics issues,” said Pompeo en route to Japan, adding he was hopeful that a general date and location could be reached after his meeting with Kim.
When asked if he is bringing any message or gift to Kim on Trump’s behalf, Pompeo told the traveling press: “I am not bringing anything that we are prepared at this point to talk about publicly. “
Pompeo’s trip to North Korea this year comes as Washington and Pyongyang are making arrangements for a second summit between their leaders.
“I’m optimistic that we’ll come away from that with better understandings, deeper progress, and a plan forward not only for the summit between the two leaders, but for us to continue the efforts to build out a pathway for denuclearization,” said Pompeo earlier this week.
But analysts said Pompeo faces challenges to ensure a second summit produces real progress toward denuclearization.
“I think they cannot come out of these trips any more with broad statements of principles; there needs to be some actual, tangible movement on the nuclear issue,” said Victor Cha who is senior advisor and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The core issues have not been addressed by North Korea, including a list of nuclear weapons and facilities, a way to verify that information, and a timeline for disposing of these things, added Cha during a phone briefing on Friday.
North Korea has been seeking a formal end to the 1950-53 Korea War, but the United States has said Pyongyang must give up its nuclear weapons first. North Korea has not satisfied Washington’s demands for a complete inventory of its nuclear weapons.
