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SEOUL / WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday hailed "significant progress" in talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over the weekend and said the two sides were "close enough" to agree on the details of a second summit between Kim and President Donald Trump.
However, experts questioned the results obtained by Pompeo on Sunday during his fourth visit to Pyongyang this year. They said the North Korean leader just seemed to be repackaging and dragging past promises.
Mr. Pompeo told reporters that Kim was willing to allow international inspectors to visit the Punggye-ri nuclear test site (North Korea) and the Sohae missile engine test facility as soon as the two parties would have agreed on logistics.
Pompeo, however, declined to say whether North Korea had offered inspectors to visit its Yongbyon site, which produces fuel for nuclear weapons. North Korea said that an inspection of this site would be allowed if the United States took "corresponding measures", for which there was no sign.
In May, North Korea blew up tunnels in Punggye-ri and called this proof of its commitment to end the nuclear tests, but a senior White House official accused Pyongyang of breaking the promise made to the experts. To witness the dismantling of the site. meant that there was no one to check what was really going on.
Pompeo did not say when the inspectors would be allowed to travel to Punggye-ri, and the state department did not respond when asked if they were there. would be Americans or other people from international nuclear organizations.
"It will take a lot of logistics to get there," Pompeo said at a press briefing in Seoul before leaving for Beijing, where the chilly tone of the talks will raise concerns about China's willingness to contribute to maintain a strengthened sanctions regime led by the United States on the North. Korea.
"SELL THE SAME HORSE TWICE"
The experts said that the inspection offer amounted to transforming a new concession into an old unfulfilled commitment.
"The real benefit of this Punggye-ri commitment is that Kim has mastered the art of milking a cosmetic franchise for months," Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said on Twitter.
"We are still talking about Punggye-ri and Sohae 6 months after his promise to dismantle them. Sell the same horse brilliantly twice. "
Even in this case, Pompeo said the two sides were "pretty close" to an agreement on the details of a second summit, which Kim proposed to US President Donald Trump in a letter from last month .
"Both leaders believe that it is possible to make real progress and make substantial progress at the next summit," said Pompeo.
Trump and Kim held a historic first summit in Singapore on June 12, during which Kim pledged to work for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. However, his actions did not meet Washington's demands for a complete inventory of his weapons and facilities and irreversible measures to give up his arsenal.
Stephen Biegun, US Special Representative for North Korea who accompanied Pompeo to Pyongyang, said that he had offered to meet with his counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, "as soon as possible" and that they were in talks at once.
Pompeo told South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Sunday that his latest trip to Pyongyang was "another step forward" for denuclearization, but there were "many steps along the way".
INSPECTION
At the last month's inter-Korean summit, the North expressed its willingness to close Yongbyon if Washington acted in the same way, implying a declaration of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Moon also said the North would "permanently dismantle" the Sohae missile engine test site in the presence of experts from "concerned countries".
Pyongyang's inability to deliver on its commitment to allow international inspections in Punggye-ri in May fueled criticism that the decision could easily be reversed.
In July, satellite imagery indicated that it had begun to dismantle the engine test site, but also without allowing external verification. Project 38 North announced last week that no decommissioning activity has been reported since August 3rd.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Kim had invited the inspectors to come to Punggye-ri to confirm that it had been dismantled irreversibly.
The policy of Trump's skeptics administration stated that it was difficult to see what Pompeo had achieved.
"Has Mike Pompeo gone to Pyongyang for party planning purposes?" Said Daniel Russel, chief US diplomat for East Asia until the end of the day. 39, last year, on NBC. "Is it fair to organize another summit without clearly understanding what it will generate?"
The official KCNA news agency in Pyongyang was optimistic. On Monday, Kim praised his talks with Pompeo and "explained in detail the proposals to solve the problem of denuclearization".
"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 said the bilateral dialogue would continue to develop "based on the deep trust between the two leaders," and expressed gratitude to Trump for making sincere efforts to implement the agreement reached. at the June summit, said KCNA.
KCNA also said that both parties agreed to lead negotiations for the second summit as soon as possible.
But this did not mention inspections.
North Korea had denounced Pompeo during his previous trip to Pyongyang in July for making "gangster claims". Pompeo did not meet Kim on this trip.
Moon also spoke positively about Pompeo's last meeting with Kim. He said the conditions for another Trump-Kim summit and help denuclearize the Korean peninsula would be put in place.
Moon said Kim is expected to travel to Russia soon, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping is also expected to visit North Korea, but does not give details.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia had invited Kim to visit the capital, but that the time and place had not yet been agreed.
Report by Joyce Lee and Hyonhee Shin; Edited by Peter Cooney, Michael Perry and Paul Tait
