WASHINGTON – US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo engaged in an intense day of negotiations with his North Korean counterpart Saturday as he strove to nail down Pyongyang’s commitment to nuclear disarmament.
Pompeo held talks in an elegant Pyongyang guest house for a second day with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s right-hand man Kim Yong Chol.
The US envoy later left Pyongyang bound for Tokyo, where he was to brief his Japanese and South Korean counterparts and talk to reporters on Sunday.
The negotiations followed President Donald Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, where the leaders signed a statement committing Pyongyang to “work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”.
While hailed by Trump as ending the threat of nuclear war, the June 12 statement was short on clear commitments, and Pompeo was tasked with negotiating a detailed plan in Pyongyang.
“Our policy hasn’t changed,” Pompeo’s spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters as the meetings got underway.
“Our expectation is exactly what the president and Kim Jong Un jointly agreed to in Singapore, and that is the denuclearisation of North Korea,” she said.
Saturday’s talks were held at a villa in an official compound close to the imposing mausoleum where North Korea’s former helmsmen Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il — the current leader’s grandfather and father — lie in state.
As the day began, Pompeo left the compound to make a secure call to Trump away from potential surveillance, then returned to restart talks and they continued through a working lunch for almost six hours.
The meeting appeared to be drawing to a close at around 3.00pm (0600 GMT) and he flew out of the country just over an hour later, without talking to reporters.
In opening remarks, Kim Yong Chol asked Pompeo if he had slept well on his first overnight stay in the country, adding: “But we did have very serious discussion on very important matters yesterday.
“So thinking about those discussions you might not have slept well last night,” he suggested.
Pompeo responded that he had slept “just fine” but the exchange suggested tougher talks ahead.
