Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has brushed aside a senior North Korean official’s suggestion he step away from leading the negotiations over denuclearization in favor of someone “who is more careful and mature.”
“Nothing’s changed. We’ll continue to work, to negotiate. Still in charge of the team,” Pompeo said Friday when asked about the comments made earlier this week by Kwon Jong Gun, who heads the North Korean foreign ministry’s department of American affairs.
Kwon accused Pompeo of “self-indulgence” and “reckless remarks” and blamed him for the impasse that led to President Trump abruptly walking out of the February summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“I am afraid that, if Pompeo engages in the talks again, the table will be lousy once again and the talks will become entangled,” Kwon said, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
In a speech Sunday to the North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly, Kim said he didn’t want a repeat of the Hanoi summit, but would be “willing to try one more time” if the United States had the “proper attitude.”
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The Vietnam talks fell apart after North Korea insisted on full sanctions relief in exchange for limited dismantling of one site in the country’s nuclear program.
While criticizing America for its rejection of phased sanctions relief, Kim nevertheless said his relations with Trump remain positive, “not hostile like the relationship between the two countries.”
While Kim would clearly rather deal with Trump, Pompeo said there will be no change to the negotiating team.
“President Trump is obviously in charge of the overall effort, but it will be my team,” Pompeo said at a joint news conference with acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and their Japanese counterparts in town for a 2+2 ministerial.
Pompeo called on Kim to keep his commitments to give up his nuclear and ballistic missile arsenals.
“I’m convinced we still have a real opportunity to achieve that outcome,” he said.
