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U.S. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has left Kim Yong Chol, right, a senior North Korean government official and former chief of secret services, before boarding the plane at the international airport. Sunan in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 7, 2018, traveling to Japan. Pompeo described two days of meetings with Chol as "fruitful and good faith negotiations" as part of ongoing denuclearization efforts, and plans have been made to discuss the process of repatriating the remains next week to Panmunjom. (Andrew Harnik, Pool / Associated Press)
PYONGYANG, North Korea – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo concluded Saturday two days of talks with top North Korean officials without meeting Kim Jong Un but with commitments for further discussions on denuclearization Before leaving Pyongyang, Pompeo told reporters that his conversations with top North Korean official Kim Yong Chol had been "productive," conducted "in good faith" and that "a lot of progress" have been achieved in some areas. But he stressed that "there is still work to be done" in other areas, much of which would be done by working groups that both parties have set up to deal with specific issues.
Pompeo said that a Pentagon team meeting with North Korean officials around July 12 on the border between North Korea and South Korea to discuss the repatriation of remains and talks on the destruction from North Korea's missile engine test facility
after its historic summit on June 12 with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, President Donald Trump had announced that the return of the remains and the destruction of the missile facility had been completed or were underway.
Pompeo, however, stated that
"We now have a meeting scheduled for July 12 – it could be moved for a day or two – where there will be discussions between those responsible for the repatriation of It will take place at the border and this process will begin to develop in the days that follow, "he said as he boarded his plane to Tokyo
On the destruction of the Missile engine factory, Pompeo said: We talked about the modalities of the destruction of this facility and some progress, and then we have laid a path for further negotiations at the operational level so that both teams can get together. gather and continue these discussions. "
Earlier, Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol both said that they needed clarity on the parameters of an agreement to denuclearize the Korean peninsula that Trump and Kim Jong One have acc in Singapore. The trip was Pompeo's third in Pyongyang since April and his first since the summit.
Contrary to his previous visits, which were a one-day business during which he met Kim Jong Un, Pompeo spent the night in Pyongyang and did not see the North Korean leader , although US officials have suggested that such a meeting was expected. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said no meeting with Kim Jong Un had been scheduled.
As they began their talks on Saturday, Kim Yong Chol alluded to the fact that Pompeo and his delegation had spent the night in Pyongyang. I had very serious discussions on very important topics yesterday, "said Kim Pompeo, who spoke with Trump, National Security Advisor John Bolton and the Chief of Staff of the United States. White House, John Kelly, before starting the session on Saturday, responded: he has "slept very well." He added that the Trump administration was determined to reach an agreement that North Korea would denuclearize and realize economic benefits in return.
Kim later said that there were things to clarify. Pompeo replied that "there are things that I must clarify too."
There was no immediate explanation of what needed to be clarified, but both sides struggled to specify what exactly "denuclearization" would mean and how Pompeo and Kim met for almost three hours on Friday. and then had dinner in a climate of great skepticism issuer facing the gravity of Kim Jong Un. abandoning his nuclear arsenal and translating the optimistic rhetoric that follows its summit with Trump in concrete action.
On his flight to Pyongyang, Pompeo said both parties made commitments at the Singapore summit on the complete denuclearization of North Korea.
A breakthrough hoped for in this trip would have been the return of the remains of American troops killed during the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea has pledged, at the summit last month, to "repatriate immediately" the remains already identified, but this has not happened yet.
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Lee reported from Tokyo
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