Beltway Confidential

One key difficulty for Mike Pompeo on his trip to North Korea

By Erin Dunne
Published October 4, 2018 6:22pm ET
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One key difficulty for Mike Pompeo on his trip to North Korea
In this image released by the White House, then-CIA director Mike Pompeo shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, North Korea, during a 2018 East weekend trip. President Donald Trump revealed more information about Pompeo's secret trip to North Korea, saying Pompeo wasn't supposed to meet with Kim, but that they ended up talking for more than an hour. Pompeo, who won Senate confirmation April 26, to become secretary of state, was the most senior U.S. official to meet a North Korean leader since 2000. | (White House via AP)

On Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is headed to Pyongyang to set up the details for another meeting between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Pompeo has a hard road ahead of him and will be essentially playing wingman for a difficult but potentially important second date between the two leaders.

One key difficultly is that North Korea keeps changing its demands of Washington. Currently, Pyongyang says that another meeting isn’t enough and that Washington must prove its trust and seriousness (or is it love?) by reducing sanctions.

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Tag:

Kim Jong Un Mike Pompeo North Korea Nuclear Weapons State Department