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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
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Spokesperson Heather Nauert’s remarks appear to contradict claims by Bolton
The US State Department does not plan to openly give a timeline for North Korea’s denuclearization, a spokesperson said on the eve of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s scheduled arrival on July 3 for a third visit to North Korea. The statement appeared to contradict claims made in an interview a few days before by National Security Advisor John Bolton, who mentioned the possibility of denuclearization taking place “within a year.” Responding to a question about Bolton’s remarks during a regular briefing on July 3, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said, “In terms of a timeline, I know some individuals have given timelines.” “We’re not going to provide a timeline for that [denuclearization],” she continued. In a July 1 appearance on CBS, Bolton said he was “sure that the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be discussing this with the North Koreans in the near future about really how to dismantle all of their WMD and ballistic missile programs in a year.” The remarks raised questions about whether they were intended to pressure Pyongyang ahead of Pompeo’s visit or to demand a harder line from Pompeo in negotiations. Ultimately, Nauert’s remarks were read as signaling that the State Department has finished “controlling traffic,” and now plans to avoid acting in a way that might create problems in negotiating with the North ahead of Pompeo’s visit. At the same time, it is seen as highly unusual for a State Department spokesperson to openly contradict a statement by the White House National Security Advisor – suggesting the remarks could also have been an attempt to rein in Bolton by the State Department under Pompeo, who is in charge of talks with Pyongyang. On the issue of Pompeo’s itinerary in North Korea, Nauert said, “We have at least a day and a half of meetings planned, depending on how the schedule goes.” “We go into this eyes wide open. We’re continuing our conversations and also our consultations with the North Korean government about what the President and what Kim Jong-un agreed to at the Singapore summit,” she said of Pompeo’s visit. “So we obviously have a whole lot to talk about,” she added. Multiple foreign affairs sources speaking on condition of anonymity said a specific agenda for the high-level North Korea-US talks did not appear to have been set during preliminary consultations, adding that both sides were expected to “state all the things they want.” By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
