TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday brushed aside North Korea's accusation of "gangster-like" demands, maintaining that his third visit to the country was producing results but vowing that sanctions would remain until Pyongyang follows through on leader Kim Jong Un's pledge to get rid of his nuclear weapons. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, and NSC Korea Director Allis...

TOKYO (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has delivered a dose of harsh reality to Donald Trump, bashing hopes for a quick denuclearization deal in a pointed rebuke to the president's top envoy while accusing the U.S. of making "gangster-like" demands. Pompeo and Kim met for nearly three hours Friday and then had dinner amid growing skepticism over how serious Kim Jong Un is about giving up his nuclear arsenal and translating the upbeat rhetoric following his June 12 summit with Trump into concrete action. If I paid attention to the press, I’d go nuts and I refuse to do that.”

Speaking after meeting with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Tokyo, Pompeo said his two days of talks in Pyongyang had been productive and conducted in good faith. He added that his two days of talks with senior North Korean officials had “made progress,” and included a “detailed and substantive discussion about the next steps towards a fully verified and complete denuclearization.”

Those include the formation of working group to determine exactly how North Korea’s denuclearization will be verified and a Thursday meeting with Pentagon officials to discuss the return of remains of Americans soldiers killed during the Korean War. The statement says that the United States betrayed the spirit of last month's summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by making unilateral demands on "CVID," or the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea. He said North Korea understood that denuclearization must be “fully verified” and “final.”

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said that North Korea had balked at a written pledge for “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization” for historical reasons but stressed that the goal remained the same whether or not that exact phrase was used. On his third trip to Pyongyang since April and his first since last month's historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Pompeo was meeting Kim Yong Chol, a senior ruling party official. Now, three weeks later, the two sides were still at odds on all issues, including exactly what denuclearization means and how it might be verified, after a third visit to Pyongyang by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. And, just hours after Pompeo arrived in Tokyo from Pyongyang on Saturday, the North blasted the talks, saying they had been “regrettable.”

In a statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, the foreign ministry said the outcome of Pompeo’s talks with senior official Kim Yong Chol was “very concerning” because it has led to a “dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm.” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, second from right, greets Kim Yong Chol, second from left, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, as they arrive for a meeting at the Park Hwa Gues...

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool).
North Korean state media Korean Central News Agency calls high-level talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "regrettable" and criticizes the United States' "unilateral and gangster-like" demands for denuclearization.