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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lands in Pyongyang on July 6 for his third visit to North Korea.
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No trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting is expected
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be paying visits to Japan, South Korea, and North when he travels to North Korea for a fourth visit on Oct. 7. The significance of his Japan visit appears noticeably reduced compared to the itinerary for his third North Korea visit, with no trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting predicted among South Korea, the US, and Japan. According to a schedule for the visit announced on Oct. 2 by State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, Pompeo is to begin his tour of the four Northeast Asian nations with meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Kono in Tokyo on Oct. 6–7. On Oct. 7, he is to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee Vice Chairman Kim Yong-chol in Pyongyang. Later that evening, he is to travel to Seoul, where he will be staying for two days (Oct. 7–8) and meeting with President Moon Jae-in and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha. On Oct. 8, he is scheduled to “discuss bilateral, regional, and global issues” with “his Chinese counterparts” in Beijing. The decision to have Pompeo visit Japan ahead of his trip to North Korea appeared to reflect diplomatic considerations and an attempt to show “consideration” for Tokyo by first hearing Abe’s opinions on the issues of Japanese abductees in North Korea and a North Korea-US summit and then reporting them to Pyongyang. The scheduling of Pompeo’s Seoul visit after his stop in North Korea is ostensibly so Pompeo can explain the outcome first to Moon – who laid the bridge for the visit with a recent inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang and served as a mediator and catalyst for North Korea-US relations – and hold additional discussions with him. Some observers argued that while the scheduling of the Japan visit before North Korea was focused on “diplomatic considerations,” the placement of the Seoul trip after North Korea may be seen as being based on “practical necessity.” After the June 12 North Korea-US summit in Singapore, Pompeo immediately traveled to South Korea on June 13–14 to explain the outcome to Moon and share opinions with the South Korean president. After his third North Korea on July 6–7, Pompeo stopped in Tokyo to hold a trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting with Japan and explain the outcome of his visit. Washington also pushed to hold another trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting in Japan after Pompeo’s originally scheduled fourth visit to North Korea on Aug. 27, which ended up abruptly cancelled. Another trilateral meeting was held immediately after the first North Korea-US summit. The decision not to schedule a trilateral meeting this time was read as evidence that the upcoming visit – unlike previous ones – will not be focused on intensifying sanctions. Pompeo’s first visit to North Korea in late March took place under strict secrecy, while Kang traveled to the US for her first bilateral foreign ministers’ meeting with Pompeo at the time of his second North Korea visit in May. By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
