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Questioned by a Senate Foreign Relations Committee to find out if this was the case, Pompeo responded to Democratic Senator Ed Markey by saying, "Yes, it is true … Yes, they continue to produce fissile material ".
Pompeo refused to answer the question of whether North Korea was still pursuing ballistic missiles launched by submarines or whether its nuclear program was progressing generally.
He said that he would be happy to answer this last question if needed in a clbadified framework but the suggested public statements on the issue would not help "a complex negotiation with a difficult adversary."
Pompeo defended what he described as progress in talks with North Korea stemming from an unprecedented summit on June 12 between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in sometimes difficult exchanges with skeptical legislators.
He said the United States was engaged in "patient diplomacy" to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, but would not let the process "drag on endlessly."
Briefing on his July 5-7 visit to North Korea, Pompeo said that he had emphasized this position in "productive" discussions with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong Chol.
He said that Trump remained optimistic about North Korea's prospects for denuclearization, but Kim had to live up to his commitments at the top.
Pompeo stated that US-North Korea policy was guided by a principle stated by Trump on July 17 that "diplomacy and commitment are preferable to conflict and hostility".
Trump hailed his summit with Kim as a success, but questions were raised about North Korea's willingness to abandon a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States.
Kim is engaged in a summit declaration to work for denuclearization, but Pyongyang gave no details on how this could be done.
Pompeo left Pyongyang on July 7 saying that he had made progress on key issues, only for North Korea to accuse his delegation a few hours later of making "gangster-" demands. like ".
Pompeo reiterated that North Korea had agreed to denuclearize. However, he did not respond when Senator Bob Menendez asked him whether Pyongyang was in agreement with the US definition of denuclearization, except to say that he was entirely convinced that North Korea understood him.
Menendez, a ranking committee member, described Trump's meeting with Kim "of a reality show summit" which was nothing more than a photo shoot with a brutal dictator.
"We have seen only a vague agreement of promises to make more promises – but with lower commitments than what North Korea has already taken," he said. .
The Republican chairman of the committee, Bob Corker, criticized Trump for saying that Kim was "very talented" and that he "loves his people", given the serious violations of human rights and the death of Otto Warmbier. imprisonment there.
"Really?" Corker said.
Trump said last week that there was "no rush" and "no time limit" on denuclearization negotiations, but Pompeo gave varying statements about how Washington could be patient.
[2] Pompeo said after the summit that the United States hoped to achieve "major disarmament" by North Korea at the end of Trump's current term of office, which ends on January 20, 2021, but stated that he would not set a timetable.
On Wednesday, Pompeo conceded that there was "a long way to go" but in response to a question, he stated that the US goal was the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of Korea from the North to the end of Trump's current tenure, which runs until January 2021, "more quickly if possible".
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