US secretary of state says he made progress on nuclear push, but gave no details
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has said he had a “good trip” to North Korea and that he had made progress in negotiations over the country’s nuclear programme.
While details of the nuclear talks were not immediately available, the US and North Korea agreed to hold a second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un as soon as possible, according to the South Korean presidential office, which was briefed by US officials. The two countries will soon begin talks to negotiate the particulars of the meeting, following the historic summit in Singapore in June.
Pompeo and Kim met for two hours, followed by a 90-minute lunch. Pompeo posted a photo of himself walking with Kim on his Twitter account.
The visit followed a third meeting between Kim and the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, that suggested an increasingly close relationship between the two Koreas. Kim has repeatedly said he is committed to the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”, but the pledge has been criticised as overly vague by observers.
It is unclear if Trump could persuade Kim to relinquish his nuclear arsenal in a second meeting. North Korea has resisted calls for unilateral denuclearisation, slammed the US for continued sanctions pressure and demanded Washington make “corresponding” concessions.
