UNITED NATIONS—Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had a “very positive” meeting with North Korea’s foreign minister on Sept. 26 and will visit Pyongyang again next month to prepare for a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Pompeo wrote on Twitter that his meeting with Ri Yong Ho on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York was to discuss the summit and “next steps toward denuclearization of #NorthKorea.”
“Much work remains, but we will continue to move forward,” Pompeo said.
The State Department said Pompeo accepted an invitation from Kim to visit Pyongyang next month, for what will be his fourth visit this year.
Trump held an unprecedented first summit with Kim in Singapore on June 12 that yielded a broad pledge by Kim to “work toward” denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
Trump said on Sept. 26 the United States and North Korea had “a wonderful relationship going” and he would announce the timing and location of his next meeting with Kim in the “very near future.”
Pompeo told “CBS This Morning” earlier that U.S. officials were working “to make sure we get the conditions right” for a second summit. He said any future summit could happen in October, but more likely after that.
Trump said there had been “a tremendous amount of progress” since last year, and added: “They’re denuclearizing North Korea.”
His remarks on North Korea this year have been dramatically different from those in his speech last year at the U.N. assembly, when he threatened to “totally destroy” the country and called Kim “Rocket Man” on a “suicide mission”.
Sanctions
In his address to the General Assembly on Sept. 25, Trump praised Kim for his courage in taking steps to disarm, but said much work still had to be done and sanctions must remain in place on North Korea until it denuclearizes.On Sept. 26, Trump told the U.N. Security Council that many positive things were happening behind the scenes on North Korea, “away from the media.”
“I think we will make a deal,” he said.
Asked by CBS if Kim had agreed to allow international inspectors into nuclear sites, Pompeo said, “Yes,” while adding that verification was important in any nuclear agreement.