PYONGYANG, North Korea – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo began his first trip to Pyongyang from the summit by President Donald Trump Last month, leader Kim Jong Un vowed to spell out Kim's commitment to denuclearization.

Pompeo, who arrived Friday in the North Korean capital, has the crucial task of dispelling growing skepticism abandoning his nuclear arsenal and translate the optimistic rhetoric that followed the summit into concrete actions.

He was greeted at Pyongyang Airport by Kim Yong Chol, a senior ruling party official and former chief of intelligence, and Foreign Minister Ri. Yong Ho.

Shortly after, Kim Yong Chol and Kim Yong Chol, who was a leading man in the Washington negotiations for Kim Jong Un, sat down for their first talks.

We can build between them, "said Kim to Pompeo, from a pool of reporters traveling with the secretary.

It was not clear if Pompeo would meet Kim Jong Un directly, as he had done so before.

On the flight to Pyongyang, Pompeo stated that both sides had made commitments at the Singapore Summit on the complete denuclearization of North Korea and what could look like a transformed bilateral relationship

on these commitments and continue the momentum towards the implementation of what the two leaders promised themselves and the world, I think the DPRK is ready to do the same ", said Pompeo, using the acronym of the official name of North Korea.

One hoped breakthrough would be the return of the remains of American troops killed during the years 1950-53. </ p> <p> War. </ p> <p> Both parties suggested that Pyongyang would be pr and to return dozens if not hundreds of remains.

But just before the arrival of Pompeo, the Northern media issued a warning to Washington for its criticism of the human rights record of the North.

The review, published on the Uriminzokkiri website of the North Korean government, said Washington should stop provoking the North with an "anachronistic racketeering of human rights" at a time of diplomatic attempts to improve relationships.

The nuclear issue seems to be anything but a fait accompli

Doubts about Northern intentions have increased about reports that it continues to expand facilities related to its nuclear programs and to missiles and that US intelligence is skeptical about its intentions to abandon

Speaking onboard Air Force One during a trip to Montana, Trump said that he still believed that Kim was going to follow and said that he had forged a personal connection to the young autocrat, he once played the role of "little rocket man".

"I think we understand each other. I really believe that he sees a different future for North Korea, "Trump told reporters." I hope that's true. If it is not true, then we go back to the opposite, but I do not think it will be necessary. "

Trump needs Pompeo to mark a few points to raise doubts about the fact that the president, who has already ordered a suspension of large-scale US military exercises with South Korea, hurts the biggest goal of complete denuclearization by being too much in a hurry to claim quick success.

What Washington has in mind, however, is not entirely clear. 19659008] National Security Advisor John Bolton, who has Expressed radical views on North Korea, said Sunday that Pompeo will present in Pyongyang a plan to complete the dismantling of nuclear and missile programs in the North in a year.

Pompeo surrendered for the last time in May before the Trump-Kim summit and secretly went to Pyongyang in early April while he was director of the CIA.

Pyongyang is the first stop on his way .Ar first trip to the world as the best diplomat of America. He will then travel to Japan, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates before traveling to Belgium, where he will accompany Trump to the NATO summit in Brussels

—

Eric Talmadge, Head of the Office from AP Pyongyang, Tokyo, and writer Kim Tong-Hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly / 2KUQBJP [19659027] [ad_2]
Source link