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Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
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“People don’t realize that the Korean War has not ended,” President Trump tells reporters
CIA Director and Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo spoke directly with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang earlier this month regarding the possibility of an upcoming North Korea-US summit, major US news outlets reported on Apr. 17. The reports stated that Pompeo met with Kim to negotiating the conditions for the summit between the two leaders. The official said the discussions were still under way, but did not provide any specifics on when the dialogue began. In his remarks prior to a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Trump said the US has “started talking to North Korea directly.” “We have had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels with North Korea,” Trump continued. “I really believe this allows goodwill, that good things are happening. We'll see what happens, as [I] always say . . . because ultimately it's the end result that counts, not the fact that we're thinking about having a meeting or having a meeting," he added. Trump also said that five venues were being considered for the North Korea-US summit. When asked by White House reporters whether any of them were in the US, he answered in the negative. In response to additional questions from White House reporter, a US official reported being unaware of the details. In remarks prior to a one-on-one summit with Abe ahead of the small-scale summit, Trump said that South and North Korea “have my blessing” on discussions toward ending the Korean War. “People don't realize the Korean War has not ended,” he added. Trump went on to say that the North Korea-US summit “will be taking place probably in early June or a little before that, assuming things go well.” “It's possible things won't go well and we won't have the meetings,” he added, in a message observers saw as intended to pressure Pyongyang in terms of the summit’s setting and agenda. By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
