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White House National Security Advisor John Bolton
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Pompeo to continue to lead US negotiations, despite Pyongyang’s requests for his replacement
Since the second North Korea-US summit, held in Hanoi at the end of February, ended without an agreement, North Korea and the US have been waging a fierce battle of nerves outside of the negotiating room, with the North directly attacking the US’ chief negotiators and the US countering those attacks. On Apr. 20, North Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui stepped forward to criticize US White House National Security Advisor John Bolton. Choe was pushing back against remarks that Bolton made during an interview with Bloomberg News on Apr. 17. When asked what the US wanted to see before holding a third summit with the North, Bolton responded the US needs to see “a real indication from North Korea that they’ve made the strategic decision to give up nuclear weapons.” “Regardless of whether Bolton’s remarks are based on a misunderstanding of the North Korean and US leaders’ wishes regarding a third summit or whether they were a failed attempt at what Bolton regards as humor, I don’t find them appealing – I find them dumb,” Choe said, responding to a question by a reporter with North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). “In these remarks by Bolton, I have trouble finding any of the wit and logic that’s generally found in remarks by Americans,” Choe said. “Just as a warning, if they keep making remarks as thoughtless as that, they’re not going to like what happens,” Choe added, in one of the cutting remarks that are characteristic of North Korean rhetoric. “We’ve never expected Bolton to make reasonable remarks. Even so, considering that he’s the White House’s national security advisor, he really ought to figure out what kind of dialogue the two leaders have had about a third summit before opening his mouth,” Choe said. Considering that both Trump and Kim have openly expressed their willingness to hold a third summit, Choe’s reference to “dialogue” presumably means letters exchanged in private. Choe’s indirect emphasis on the strong personal relationship between Kim and Trump suggests her desire to moderate the tone of her criticism. Moon has message from Trump to relay to Kim In a Q&A with a KCNA reporter on Apr. 18, Kwon Jong-gun, director general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s Department of American Affairs, called for the replacement of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as the leader of the American negotiating team. “Just when things seem to be going well,” Kwon said, “Pompeo gets involved, which messes things up and spoils the outcome.” But Pompeo shot down this request, remarking that “nothing’s changed.” When asked by a reporter whether he would drop out of the negotiations as the North had requested following a meeting between the top defense officials in the US and Japan, held at the State Department on Apr. 19, Pompeo made clear that no changes would be made to the American team negotiating with the North. “We’re continuing to work to negotiate. I’m still in charge of the team,” he said. In related news, CNN reported on Apr. 19 that “South Korean President Moon Jae-in has a message from President Donald Trump to relay to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un,” citing South Korean diplomatic sources. This message, CNN reported, contains “things that matter to the current course of action, things that have to lead to something positive for the US-DPRK summit,” DPRK being an acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name. When queried about this, a senior official in the Blue House said, “If an inter-Korean summit is held, we believe that a variety of matters will be shared, including the results of the summit held in Washington, DC, [on Apr. 11].” By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent, and Kim Ji-eun and Lee Wan, staff reporters Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
