Kim personally confirmed NKorea is prepared to denuclearize: Mike Pompeo
After much speculations, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced today that NKorea has confirmed its willingness to denuclearize. He asserted that President Donald Trump will not take a bad deal in his meeting with North-Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore next week. Any deal reached between the two leaders would have to be approved by the Congress, said Pompeo.
Trump-Kim to discuss security assurances for NKorea
Pompeo said Trump and Kim will discuss security assurances for NKorea, establishing a peace regime between the two countries. Trump will continue to protect the US from the world of threats posed by NKorea's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, he said. "These programs threaten our homeland, our allies and partners, and the broader non-proliferation regime," he added.
'Trump believes NKorea has great potential'
Pompeo said Trump was hopeful, but he is going into the summit with his eyes wide open. "We've seen how many inadequate agreements have been struck in the past," he said. Trump, he said, recognizes that NKorea has great potential, and hopes that sanctions on it can be removed someday, which cannot happen until Pyongyang completely eliminates its weapons of mass destruction programs.
'Both countries serious, things are looking good'
Pompeo said Trump is getting daily briefings from his national security team. He noted that the diplomatic relations between the two countries today are very different from the past. The fact that the two leaders are coming to the table shows that they are very serious, Pompeo said. He added that the efforts give them hope of finding real success.
'These things don't happen overnight, will take time'
"We can't step through this over years, but rather need to acknowledge it will take some amount of time, that this doesn't happen instantaneously. But that the model for succeeding security assurance, political normalization, and denuclearization completely, we've got to make bold decisions," Pompeo said.
Pompeo says US is making progress, inch by inch
Lauding the American efforts in negotiating with the NKoreans, Pompeo said the US is making progress, inch by inch. The Trump administration is hoping to submit a document that Congress would give currency and strength to the process, so that when administrations do change, as they inevitably do, Chairman Kim will have comfort that American policy will continue down the same path.
