Pompeo meets N. Korea's Kim Yong-chol, reaffirms commitment to setting peace on Peninsula
  • 6 years ago
For the second time in a matter of weeks, the U.S. Secretary of State is in North Korea.
Mike Pompeo's expected to meet with officials there, presumably to better prepare the upcoming Washington-Pyongyang summit.
The previous visit to the regime by the Ex-CIA chief was veiled in secrecy, but this trip was announced by President Trump.
Let's connect to our unification ministry correspondent,... Oh Jung-hee right now.
Jung-hee, what do you have for us at this point.
Also, isn't it about time we get more details about plans for the historic summit?


Good evening, Daniel. You're absolutely right.
Reports have been coming out over the past couple of hours that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met today in Pyongyang with North Korea's Kim Yong-chol.
Kim Yong-chol is a close political aide to Kim Jong-un... and was Mike Pompeo's direct counterpart for talks on the North Korea-U.S. summit... when Pompeo was head of the CIA.
Kim first told Pompeo that Pyongyang has high expectations that the U.S. will play a big role in establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula... and Pompeo responded... that the American side is also committed to achieving exactly that.
He also expressed hope that the two could work together to solve the conflict, despite having been enemies for decades.
At this point, that's all we've heard.
We are not sure if Pompeo's going to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un like he did on his previous visit... or when his trip to Pyongyang is going to wrap up, but I will make sure to bring you the latest as details emerge.

Finalizing the agenda for the historic meeting must be his top priority.
And we know President Trump wants to talk about the three American detainees.
Can we expect any progress on that front?

Well, first and foremost, noting what President Trump said while Pompeo was en route to Pyongyang,... the date and location of the North Korea-U.S. summit could be announced quite soon.

"We have our meeting scheduled. We have our meeting set. The location is picked. The time and date, everything is picked. And we look forward to have a great success. We think relationships are building with North Korea. We'll see how it all works out. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. But it can be a great thing for North Korea, South Korea, Japan and the entire world. We hope it all works out."

And a solid framework for that summit is also expected to be set,... as Pompeo has told reporters... this visit is aimed at nailing down some key agendas... for a successful meeting between Kim Jong-un and President Trump.
Hopes are also high that the three Americans detained in North Korea could return to the U.S. with Pompeo.
And that's especially because, in contrast to Pompeo's last Pyongyang visit that was completely secret,... this visit involves a couple of American reporters -- raising the prospect that the Trump administration might want to create a dramatic scene.
Pompeo has said he had not yet received a commitment f
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