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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – China will be part of the solution to the North Korean crisis, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday, dismissing the possibility of escalating tensions. between the United States and Beijing, preventing Pyongyang from giving up its decision. nuclear weapons.
PHOTO FILE: State Secretary Mike Pompeo, on the right, and Kim Yong Chol, left, a senior North Korean ruling party official and former intelligence chief, arrive for a lunch at home Park Hwa hosts in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Saturday, July 7, 2018. Andrew Harnik / Pool via Reuters / File Photo
Addressing a pool reporter en route for his fourth visit this year to North Korea, Pompeo said the focus of his talks in Pyongyang this weekend would be "to ensure that we understand what each party is really trying to achieve. "
He added that he also hoped to be able to agree on a "date and a general venue" for a second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Asked that growing tensions with China would hinder his efforts after Vice President Mike Pence announced Thursday a tough new approach to Beijing going beyond a fierce trade war, Pompeo said China had always indicated that she wanted to see the North Korean denuclearization.
"And they said, despite the places where we have disagreements and other things – we have had disagreements on trade and the like – that they are determined to support our efforts to carry out this task. , consistently since the beginning of this process, "he said.
"We know that China will be part of the solution, it will finally be when we reach the end," he said. "If we do it right, we will have signed a peace treaty ending the armistice, China will be part of it."
At an unprecedented meeting on June 12 with Trump, Kim had pledged to work for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, but his actions since have not met Washington's demands regarding irreversible measures to give up an arsenal potentially threatening the United States.
Pompeo refused to give details of his planned negotiations when he was asked if he would accept the North Korean claims for a declaration ending the 1950-53 Korean War, nor at the South Korea's suggestion that, to break the current stalemate, it should refrain from any inventory. nuclear weapons from North Korea.
Pompeo's last trip to North Korea went wrong. He left Pyongyang in July to commend the progress made, but North Korea denounced him for having formulated "gangster-like demands".
Pompeo has recently angered North Korea by insisting that international sanctions must remain in force until it abandons its nuclear weapons. On Wednesday, he said that the UN General Assembly, meeting last week, unanimously supported this proposal, even though Russia and China "had ideas on how we could start thinking at a moment's notice. where it should be reduced. "
Pompeo will travel to Japan on Saturday before traveling to Pyongyang, where he will arrive Sunday morning, local time, or Saturday night, US East Coast time.
After a stop in Seoul, Pompeo must go to China on Monday.
He met in Beijing with the Chinese government's top diplomat, Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi, and his predecessor Yang Jiechi.
Reporting by the pool reporter; Written by David Brunnstrom; Edited by Sandra Maler
