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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a joint press conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono on June 14. (photo pool)
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Statement by US Secretary of State indication of continued North Korea-US negotiations
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on June 23 that Pyongyang and Washington both “understand red lines, things that neither country is prepared to go past.” His remarks were read as suggesting the current negotiations are unlikely to break down because each side clearly understands which lines shouldn’t be crossed with the other. Appearing in an MSNBC interview that day, Pompeo said, “I think it is fair to say that there are a number of things, a number of principles that have been agreed to [by the North Korean and US leaders].” Acknowledging that it was “not the first rodeo negotiating with North Korea,” he suggested the so-called red lines “give us an opportunity to believe . . . that perhaps this time is different.” Pompeo also responded to arguments from some quarters that the Donald Trump administration is neglecting the North Korean human rights issue. “We’ve done that [talked about human rights issues at the summit] with Chairman Kim [Jong-un],” he said, adding that the North Korean nuclear program was the “biggest threat to the United States.” “If we can get the outcome we hope to have [on the nuclear issue], we think we create a great probability that human rights conditions not only in North Korea but around the world may well improve,” he continued. On the timeline for lifting sanctions against North Korea, Pompeo said Trump had said “very clearly” that “if it’s the case that Chairman Kim either is unable to or unprepared to denuclearize, sanctions will remain in place.” “We’ll be back hard at [sanctions] if the negotiations prove to be either not in good faith or unproductive,” he said. Pompeo also said he had stressed the need to “continue to make sure that the economic sanctions that are in place remain in place” during a June 14 visit to China to share the outcome of the North Korea-US summit. Indeed, Trump sent a notice to Congress on June 22 informing it that six existing executive orders on North Korea sanctions would remain in effect for another year. The executive orders include terms concerning the freezing of assets belonging to the North Korean government and major Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) figures, a ban on North Korea’s overseas dispatching of workers, and a ban on mineral transactions. According to a sunset clause in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act serving as a basis for executive orders, the President must provide Congressional notice and post a bulletin message each year if he or she wishes to extend them. As a reason for extending the sanctions, Trump cited the North Korean nuclear and missile programs, which he described as an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” The measure amounted to an institutional reaffirmation of Trump’s established position that sanctions cannot be reduced or lifted without significant measures from North Korea in connection with its existing nuclear weapons and ICBMs. By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr] Caption: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a joint press conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono on June 14. (joint photo pool)
