Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on July 13 that China deters North Korea from participating in denuclearization efforts pursued by the U.S. government because Beijing “benefits from Chairman Kim [Jong Un] continuing to hold his nuclear weapons.”
During a video interview at the Asian Leadership Conference (ALC) in Seoul, South Korea, a summit hosted by South Korean media Chosun Ilbo, Pompeo said that the Chinese regime uses Pyongyang as “an important buffer state,” because Washington then has to spend energies to defend East Asia against North Korea’s nuclear weapons systems.
