North Korea calls talks with Pompeo ‘regrettable’ after he said ‘progress’ was made

In a face-to-face visit with hopes of putting meat on the bones after the historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spent two days in North Korea this week negotiating with counterparts. Before departing Pyongyang on Saturday, Pompeo told reporters that his conversations with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol had been "productive," conducted "in good faith" and that "a great deal of progress" had been made in some areas. As well as progress towards halting North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Pompeo said that the two sides discussed "modalities" for the destruction of a missile engine testing facility, as well as agreeing to hold further talks on the repatriation of remains of Americans killed in the 1950-53 Korean War on 12 July. He was met at the Pyongyang airport by Kim Yong Chol, a senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, and Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho to begin his third visit since April and first since the June 12 summit. Unlike his previous visits, which have been one-day affairs during which he has met with Kim Jong Un, Pompeo spent the night at a government guest house in Pyongyang and did not see the North Korean leader, although U.S. officials had suggested such a meeting was expected. “Thinking about those discussions you might have not slept well last night,” he said to Pompeo, referencing their close to three-hour meal the night before during which they discussed “very important matters.”

Pompeo told the North Korean negotiator that he “slept just fine.” Neither side revealed any details about the evening’s conversation. Kim later said that “there are things that I have to clarify” to which Pompeo responded that “there are things that I have to clarify as well.”

There was no immediate explanation of what needed to be clarified, but the two sides have been struggling to specify what exactly “denuclearization” would entail and how it could be verified to the satisfaction of the United States. Mr Pompeo and Mr Kim met for nearly three hours on Friday and then had dinner amid growing scepticism over how serious Kim Jong Un is about giving up his nuclear arsenal and translating the upbeat rhetoric following his June 12 summit with Mr Trump into concrete action.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls for North Korea to follow Vietnam's path in overcoming past hostilities with the United States.