Pompeo arrives in North Korea for talks on nuclear sites

SEOUL / WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in North Korea on Friday, hoping to "fill in" details on the North's plans to dismantle its nuclear program the Korean War.

Pompeo landed in Pyongyang and puts Kim Yong Chol, a senior North Korean official who plays a central role with Pompeo in arranging last month's president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, according to a pool report reporters traveling with him.

Pompeo will spend a day in North Korea, until Saturday, his first overnight stay there.

At the Singapore summit, Kim made a broad commitment to "work toward denuclearization", but did not dismantle North Korea's nuclear programs.

"The President told me he believes that Chairman Kim sees a different, future brighter for the people of North Korea. We both hope that's true, "Pompeo said on Twitter after a phone call with Trump in the air.

"Next stop: Pyongyang. I look forward to continuing my meetings with North Korean leaders. There is much hard work ahead but peace is worth the effort. "

Pompeo said he was seeking to" fill in "some details on North Korea's commitments and maintain the momentum towards implementation of the agreement from the summit, according to the report .

Pompeo would try to agree on at least an initial list of nuclear sites and an inventory that could be checked against the available intelligence, U.S. intelligence officials told Reuters.

Also on the agenda is the issue of remains, in North Korea, of U.S. soldiers missing from the 1950-53 war. Trump said after the Singapore summit that Kim had agreed to go back to the United States.

Kim Is serious about negotiations. North Korean officials have yet to demonstrate that in working-level talks, the intelligence officials said.

"If they're serious, then we can get down to the business of defining the terms of denuclearization," said one official.

But the ability to verify the accuracy of any North Korean nuclear warrior is limited to the lack of a "high confidence" of the North's nuclear arsenal, such as the number of warheads and uranium enrichment facilities, especially if they are not operational, they said.

While in the past, the Pentagon has said North Korean officials have said they had the remains of many as 200 US troops, a North Korean might hand over.

"Until we have the necessary DNA testing to verify which they are, and they have had the possibility of remaining one of the same soldiers, we won ' t know for sure what they've given back, "the official said.

CHANGING LANGUAGE?

However, some officials in the State and Defense Departments and in U.S. intelligence agencies are worried that by overstating the results of the Singapore summit, Trump has put himself at a disadvantage if negotiations do begin.

Ahead of the Singapore summit, Pompeo said Trump would reject anything short of "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization".

But following talks on Sunday between U.S. sent Sung Kimand North Korean counterparts, this "CVID" language appears to have disappeared from the State Department lexicon.

North Korea denuclearizes, but in statements this week, it redefined the U.S. goal as "the final, fully verified denuclearization" of the country.

Some U.S. Officials and Experts Have Said in the U.S. Approach.

The State Department denied the view, saying its policy remains unchanged.

Pompeo tweeted: "Looking forward to continuing our work towards the final, fully verified denuclearization of #DPRK, as agreed to by Chairman Kim. Good to have press along for the trip. "

" The President has made it to the United States of America " Tweets that North Korea no longer poses nuclear threats.

"Kim may be betting – maybe gambling – that just as he agreed to meet after threatening fire and fury, the president may be back down again and let Pyongyang set the agenda and the timetable," the official said.

Pompeo's talk will be closely watched in the region. He is here to meet all of South Korea and Japan in Tokyo on Sunday.

A spokesman for South Korea's presidential office would only say South Korea and the United States were working to formulate "constructive measures" on North Korea's denuclearization.