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Mike Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol of North Korea in June.
Photo:
Andrew Harnik / Press Pool
SEOUL – The US State Department announced that the meeting between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a top North Korean official scheduled for Thursday had been delayed indefinitely, another setback as both sides were trying to to maintain a heated diplomatic process.
In a brief statement attributed Wednesday to State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, the United States said the two sides would meet again "without notice".
Ms. Nauert did not explain why the meeting had been postponed, but both parties had come up against the pace of the North's progress in denuclearization and her requests for relaxation of the sanctions imposed by the United States on Pyongyang.
In her statement, Nauert said the United States remains focused on honoring commitments made by President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, suggesting that the United States remains interested in keeping the diplomatic process alive. .
"The conversations going on are still going on," she said.
North Korea has said it has taken enough first steps towards denuclearization by dismantling a missile launch site, a nuclear test facility and ending missile and nuclear weapons testing.
Pyongyang demanded that the United States lift its sanctions in return, stressing that an improvement in bilateral relations should precede any subsequent concessions.
US authorities have been reluctant to lift sanctions, conditioning any easing of the complete and verified denuclearization of the North.
Write to Andrew Jeong at [email protected]
