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In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are walking together before their meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Sunday. (Korean Central News Agency / Korean Press Service via AP)
Simon Denyer
Head of the Tokyo office covering Japan, North Korea and South Korea.
TOKYO – President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un believe that "substantial progress" can be made at a second summit, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday. Arrangements for the meeting of leaders are about to be finalized.
Pompeo spent about three and a half hours with Kim in Pyongyang Sunday, at a formal meeting, and then at lunch, talks that he later described as "productive" and "another step forward" in negotiations to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
The two sides agreed to set up "working level" negotiating teams to finalize the date and time of the summit and set the stage for a successful summit meeting, he said. .
"More importantly, both leaders believe that real progress can be made, significant progress at the next summit. So we are going to get it at a good time for each of the two leaders and at one place it works for both, "Pompeo told reporters in South Korea, where he flew after his visit to Pyongyang .
"We really hope to get good results at the summit," he added. "But we do believe that this is a place where ultimately some of these big difficult issues need to be addressed by the country's top leaders, and we hope that these issues will be presented in a way that both leaders can address. solve when they meet. "
The Secretary of State's previous trip to North Korea in July went wrong. He concluded by saying that both sides had made progress, with the sole exception of North Korea, which denounced him for making "gangster-like" requests and raised "cancerous" issues. On this occasion, he did not meet Kim.
But this time, North Korea's reaction to the talks has been much more positive. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that Kim had "warmly welcomed" Pompeo to Pyongyang and "congratulated" him.
Kim said progress had been made in implementing the decisions made with Trump in Singapore in June, according to KCNA, and expressed gratitude to Trump, adding that an agreement had been reached for the holding of 39, a second summit "as soon as possible".
"The supreme leader has expressed his willingness and conviction that great progress will certainly be made in solving the problems that are of the utmost concern to the world and in achieving the objective set in the last talks with the second draft of cooperation between the DPRK and the United States. summit as an opportunity, "reported KCNA.
The official name of North Korea is Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK.
"Kim Jong Un expressed his satisfaction at the successful and wonderful discussions with Mike Pompeo, during which mutual positions were fully understood and opinions exchanged," said KCNA.
Kim also expressed his belief that – "on the basis of the deep trust between the highest leaders of the two countries" – dialogue and negotiations would continue to develop favorably and a "good program" for a second summit would be developed .
At the Pompeo meeting in Pyongyang, Kim also invited the inspectors to visit the Punggye-ri nuclear test site to "confirm that it had been dismantled irreversibly," the department said. 'State.
Pompeo said that this could happen "as soon as we have settled the logistical problem," adding, "President Kim said he was ready to let them in."
The State Secretary also confirmed that inspectors would also be invited to visit a separate missile test site in Tongchang-ri, but declined to specify which organization might be allowed to visit the site. One or the other of these sites.
Kim is committed to allowing inspectors to visit both sites when he met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month, but experts said it was important to make it explicitly reiterate this promise to Pompeo.
After the inter-Korean summit, Kim also said he was ready to permanently dismantle his country's main nuclear site in Yongbyon, but only if the United States took "corresponding measures" to create a climate. of confidence.
Pompeo declined to comment on the status of negotiations on Yongbyon or the details of the negotiations in general, stating "we will not talk about the progress of these negotiations, except for the items we agreed to disclose with the North Koreans. "
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