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CIA Director Mike Pompeo was nominated by US President Trump to be the next Secretary of State. (Reuters)
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Mike Pompeo expected to take a lead role in organizing the meeting, but his confirmation may be slow going in Senate
Even after the “unexpected variable” of the abrupt dismissal of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the US government is accelerating preparations for President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in May around the two poles of the White House and Mike Pompeo, current director of the CIA and nominee for Secretary of State. “The White House has created a working group to prepare for the landmark meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea,” the New York Times reported on Mar. 14. “Mr. Pottinger and his staff are handling much of the preparations for the meeting,” the newspaper added. Matthew Pottinger is the senior director for Asia at the National Security Council. CNN also reported that Trump had “personally” instructed Pompeo to take charge of preparations for the meeting after accepting Kim’s proposal for a summit on Mar. 8. Pompeo has effectively been given a special assignment even before being officially confirmed as Secretary of State. “Trump doesn’t have a strong background on the Korean Peninsula,” the Washington Post observed. “That would leave ample room for Pompeo, if confirmed, to play a major role in setting the substance and the tone of the talks.” The White House has taken steps to back up Pompeo, who will be the primary figure in charge of arranging Trump’s summit with Kim. A fact sheet released by the White House spokesperson called “Mike Pompeo’s Distinguished Career as CIA Director” said that “under Director Pompeo, the CIA has established mission centers focused specifically on North Korea and Iran.” It is unusual for the White House to provide cover for a specific secretarial nominee by promoting their achievements. Some newspapers quoted analysts who raised the possibility that Trump and Kim’s summit could be delayed until June or July because Pompeo’s confirmation as Secretary of State will take a few weeks and because of the State Department’s shorthanded diplomatic team for North Korea. Michael O’Hanlon, a senior analyst at the Brookings Institution, acknowledged the difficulties when he told the Post that “Two months is a short time. But two months is not too short.” “If I were working there, we could write a halfway decent memo in the next 48 hours and have it on the president’s desk to read over the weekend at Mar-a-Lago. And you have to coordinate with your allies and China. That takes maybe another week or two,” O’Hanlon said. The problem, in other words, is not one of work, but rather of will. By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
