Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be traveling to North Korea next week to discuss denuclearization plans, according to a report.
Pompeo canceled a meeting planned with his Indian counterpart for July 6 so he could fly to Pyongyang in his first visit since President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met this month in Singapore, four sources told the Financial Times.
“We’ve been pretty ambiguous in our conversations about what we mean when we say complete denuclearization,” Pompeo told the Senate Appropriations subcommittee during a hearing Wednesday, adding that he is confident North Korea understands the desire for complete denuclearization.
After the Trump-Kim summit on June 12, many lawmakers criticized the president for not being clear enough that North Korea would have to surrender its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Trump later declared there “is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea,” although the White House last week extended its “national emergency” due to its missiles.
Pompeo said he “will be the person who will take the role of driving this process forward,” while saying Trump would still be “in the lead” on denuclearization and diplomatic talks with the North.
