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US Vice President Mike Pence (right) shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at an ASEAN-related summit in Singapore on Nov. 15. (EPA)
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US vice president insists on maintaining pressure campaign on Pyongyang until plan emerges
US Vice President Mike Pence stressed that a second North Korea-US summit would need to produce a “verifiable plan” for North Korea’s denuclearization. He also insisted pressure against Pyongyang would need to continue until a plan emerged. His remarks were seen as an attempt to press North Korea into providing a concrete timetable ahead of a second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which is expected to take place early next year. Pence, who was in Singapore to attend an ASEAN-related summit, told NBC in an interview on Nov. 15 that it was “absolutely imperative in this next [North Korea-US] summit that we come away with a plan for identifying all of the weapons in question, identifying all the development sites, allowing for inspections of the sites and the plan for dismantling nuclear weapons.” Stressing that the goal was complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Pence declared, “Now we need to see results.” His remarks amounted to an open call for agreement on a nuclear reporting, inspection, and abandonment plan when Trump and Kim sit down for the second time early next year. In terms of the second summit’s agenda, the US vice president pushed aggressively for a concrete “roadmap” for reporting, inspection, and abandonment to be a key issue in response to Pyongyang’s demands for the loosening of sanctions. Pence stressed that there would be no loosening of sanctions prior to denuclearization activities by North Korea. “Until we have a plan that is implemented to achieve complete, verifiable, irreversible, denuclearization (CVID), we’re going to keep the pressure on,” he said. “We don’t want to repeat the mistakes that prior administrations, frankly in both political parties, have made over the last several decades where promises are made, sanctions are lifted, economic support comes and then promises are broken,” he added. During the plenary session of the ASEAN summit, Pence stressed that it was “time to maintain the pressure campaign and enforce all UN sanctions.” “We must work together to stop North Korea’s evasion of sanctions, including the illegal ship-to-ship transfer of oil and coal. All countries must also expel North Korean labor,” he said. Some of the US news outlets that interviewed Pence, including NBC and CNN, interpreted his remarks as lowering the bar for a second summit to be held. Based on speculation that the US was initially demanding a complete list of nuclear weapons, materials, and facilities from Pyongyang before a second North Korea-US summit, Pence’s remarks were seen as suggesting that related discussions could take place at the summit. By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
