The Latest: After latest talks, US and NKorea still at odds

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — The Latest on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to North Korea (all times local):

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has delivered a dose of harsh reality to President Donald Trump. He's bashed hopes for a quick denuclearization deal in a pointed rebuke to Trump's top envoy while accusing the U.S. of making "gangster-like" demands.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean officials completed two days of talks on Saturday. The two sides are still at odds on all issues, including exactly what denuclearization means and the return of U.S. remains from the Korean War.

Pompeo left the North Korean capital for Tokyo on an optimistic note. But the North blasted the discussions, saying the visit had been "regrettable" and that Washington's "gangster-like" demands are aimed at forcing it to abandon nuclear weapons.

North Korea says high-level talks with a U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were "regrettable" and has accused Washington of trying to unilaterally pressure the country into abandoning its nukes.

The statement by an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman on Saturday came hours after Pompeo concluded two days of talks with North Korean officials led by Kim Yong Chol.

The statement says that the United States betrayed the spirit of last month's summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by making unilateral demands on "CVID," or the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea.

It says the outcome of the follow-up talks was "very concerning" because it has led to a "dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has wrapped up two days of talks with senior North Korean officials without meeting Kim Jong Un but with commitments for new discussions on denuclearization and the repatriation of the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War.

Before departing Pyongyang on Saturday, Pompeo told reporters that his conversations with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol had been "productive," conducted "in good faith" and that "a great deal of progress" had been made in some areas. But he stressed that "there's still more work to be done" in other areas, much of which would be done by working groups that the two sides have set up to deal with specific issues.

Pompeo said that a Pentagon team would be meeting with North Korean officials on or about July 12 at the border between North and South Korea to discuss the repatriation of remains and that working level talks would be held soon on the destruction of North Korea's missile engine testing facility.

North Korea's state media have reported the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a day after he arrived in Pyongyang but did not describe the nature of his talks with North Korean officials over the future of the country's nuclear weapons program.

Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday the U.S. delegation led by Pompeo will take part in high-level talks for carrying out agreements between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following their summit last month in Singapore.

The agency provided no further details.

Pompeo met for nearly three hours Friday with a senior North Korean official in Pyongyang to nail down specifics of commitments on denuclearization made at Trump's summit with Kim.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has begun his first trip to Pyongyang since President Donald Trump's summit with leader Kim Jong Un last month with a vow to nail down the specifics of the commitments Kim made on denuclearization.

Pompeo has the crucial task of dispelling growing skepticism over how seriously Kim is about giving up his nuclear arsenal and translate the upbeat rhetoric following the first meeting between leaders of the U.S. and North Korea into concrete action.

He was met at the Pyongyang airport by Kim Yong Chol, a senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, and Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho to begin his third visit since April and first since the June 12 summit. </s> North Korea Foreign Ministry says talks with Pompeo 'regrettable,' accuses US of unilateral demands for denuclearization

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea Foreign Ministry says talks with Pompeo 'regrettable,' accuses US of unilateral demands for denuclearization. </s> PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — The Latest on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to North Korea (all times local):

North Korea says high-level talks with a U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were "regrettable" and has accused Washington of trying to unilaterally pressure the country into abandoning its nukes.

The statement by an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman on Saturday came hours after Pompeo concluded two days of talks with North Korean officials led by Kim Yong Chol.

The statement says that the United States betrayed the spirit of last month's summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by making unilateral demands on "CVID," or the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea.

It says the outcome of the follow-up talks was "very concerning" because it has led to a "dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has wrapped up two days of talks with senior North Korean officials without meeting Kim Jong Un but with commitments for new discussions on denuclearization and the repatriation of the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War.

Before departing Pyongyang on Saturday, Pompeo told reporters that his conversations with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol had been "productive," conducted "in good faith" and that "a great deal of progress" had been made in some areas. But he stressed that "there's still more work to be done" in other areas, much of which would be done by working groups that the two sides have set up to deal with specific issues.

Pompeo said that a Pentagon team would be meeting with North Korean officials on or about July 12 at the border between North and South Korea to discuss the repatriation of remains and that working level talks would be held soon on the destruction of North Korea's missile engine testing facility.

North Korea's state media have reported the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a day after he arrived in Pyongyang but did not describe the nature of his talks with North Korean officials over the future of the country's nuclear weapons program.

Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday the U.S. delegation led by Pompeo will take part in high-level talks for carrying out agreements between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following their summit last month in Singapore.

The agency provided no further details.

Pompeo met for nearly three hours Friday with a senior North Korean official in Pyongyang to nail down specifics of commitments on denuclearization made at Trump's summit with Kim.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has begun his first trip to Pyongyang since President Donald Trump's summit with leader Kim Jong Un last month with a vow to nail down the specifics of the commitments Kim made on denuclearization.

Pompeo has the crucial task of dispelling growing skepticism over how seriously Kim is about giving up his nuclear arsenal and translate the upbeat rhetoric following the first meeting between leaders of the U.S. and North Korea into concrete action.

He was met at the Pyongyang airport by Kim Yong Chol, a senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, and Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho to begin his third visit since April and first since the June 12 summit. </s> Secretary of State Mike Pompeo finished two days of talks with senior North Korean officials in Pyongyang on Saturday, telling reporters that the two countries agreed to continue discussions on denuclearization and the repatriation of the remains of Americans killed during the Korean War.

The talks came amid growing concern among nuclear experts that North Korea is not taking steps toward denuclearization and uncertainty as to what President Trump and Kim Jong Un meant when they committed to it in Singapore last month.

Following Pompeo's remarks before departing Pyongyang, North Korea's foreign ministry said the talks with Pompeo were "regrettable" and accused the U.S. of making unilateral demands for denuclearization, The Associated Press reports.

"We expected that the U.S. side would come with productive measures conducive to building trust in line with the spirit of the North-U.S. summit and [we] considered providing something that would correspond to them," an unnamed foreign ministry spokesman said, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

"The U.S. just came out with such unilateral and robber-like denuclearization demands as [complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization], declaration and verification that go against the spirit of the North-U.S. summit meeting."

But Pompeo had said that his conversations with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol were "productive" and that he had made progress "on almost all of the central issues." U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo did not meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as he has done on two previous visits to North Korea this year.

Pompeo said Defense Department officials will meet with North Korean officials on July 12 at the Demilitarized Zone to discuss the repatriation of remains, which North Korea committed to last month. He also said that working level talks will begin soon on the destruction of a missile-engine testing facility.

When asked about reports that North Korea is building up sites tied to its nuclear weapons program, Pompeo insisted that Kim Jong Un is "still committed" to complete denuclearization.

"We talked about what the North Koreans are continuing to do and how it's the case that we can get our arms around achieving what Chairman Kim and President Trump both agreed to, which is the complete denuclearization of North Korea," Pompeo said.

Following the agreement signed at the Singapore summit, it appears that again North Korea and the U.S. have only committed to broad strokes and say that now the hard work is beginning, NPR's Seoul correspondent Elise Hu tells Weekend Edition Saturday. Before this trip, Pompeo said he was hoping to "fill in" some of the details on what North Korea committed to at the summit.

Kim Yong Chol said earlier Saturday that he and Pompeo conducted "very serious discussions on very important matters yesterday" but later added that "there are things that I have to clarify." Pompeo responded, "There are things that I have to clarify as well." Neither side disclosed those details.

The Trump administration has said it would take between 1 and 2 1/2 years to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program. But many nuclear and policy experts say it would take several years to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, if not decades.

"No, it cannot be done in one year. It's a very, very unrealistic plan," Sue Mi Terry, Korea an analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former CIA analyst, told Morning Edition on Friday, adding that just the process of verifying the full scope of North Korea's nuclear program "takes years, decades." </s> The US Secretary of State is playing down North Korea's claim that America had a 'gangster-like mindset' during recent talks on denuclearisation. Mike Pompeo says he is eager to see Kim Jong Un follow through on the North's commitment to denuclearise the Korean peninsula. </s> The North Korean Foreign Ministry has said this afternoon that talks with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo were "regrettable" and accused Washington of making "unilateral demands for denuclearisation."

The tough statement comes hours after Pompeo said progress with North Korea had been made "on almost all of the central issues" including denuclearisation, although he insisted that work still needed to be done.

Following two days of diplomatic talks in North Korea, Pompeo told reporters this morning that "a good deal of time" had been spent discussing a timeline for slowing down nuclear ambitions.

But just as Pompeo's trip to Pyongyang wrapped up, an unnamed spokesperson for the pariah states said that the outcome of the talks was "very concerning" because it has led to a "dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearisation that had been firm."

North Korea argued that unilateral demands on complete, verifiable and irrevisible denuclearisation (CVID) was betraying the spirit of last month’s unprecedented summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, which involved an historic handshake between the two leaders but was criticised for being short on detail.

The US secretary of state met with Kon Yong-chol, generally seen as Kim Jong-un’s right-hand man, in Pyongyang after delivering gifts from Trump which allegedly included an Elton John CD, in a joking reference to a low point in relations when the president called the North Korean dictator "little rocket man".

Read more: Trump has given Kim Jong-un a bizarre gift as denuclearisation talks begin

Prior to North Korea's comments this afternoon, Pompeo had said: "These are complicated issues but we made progress on almost all of the central issues. Some places a great deal of progress, other places there’s still more work to be done."

As well as progress towards halting North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Pompeo said that the two sides discussed "modalities" for the destruction of a missile engine testing facility, as well as agreeing to hold further talks on the repatriation of remains of Americans killed in the 1950-53 Korean War on 12 July. </s> (Reuters) - U.S. and North Korean officials have set up working groups to deal with “nitty gritty stuff” including verification of efforts to achieve denuclearisation, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said on Saturday, the second day of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang.

The spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said Pompeo’s discussions with North Korean officials included the repatriation of the remains of Americans who died in the Korean War in the 1950s in addition to denuclearisation issues, according to a pool report by reporters accompanying Pompeo.

Pompeo left the negotiations venue to make a secure phone call to update President Donald Trump on the talks, the report said.

At talks with Kim Yong Chol, a top official in North Korea’s ruling party who had already met with Pompeo in New York, Pompeo said as he headed into the meeting that the aim of the United States was for “complete denuclearisation” of the North.

Kim did not comment on the issue of denuclearisation, saying only that there “are things I have to clarify.”

The Trump administration has said that if North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons program it could become a rich and successful country.

While there have been no nuclear or missile tests since the Singapore summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month, satellite imagery shows upgrades to the country’s Yongbyon nuclear plant. </s> TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday brushed aside North Korea's accusation of "gangster-like" demands, maintaining that his third visit to the country was producing results but vowing that sanctions would remain until Pyongyang follows through on leader Kim Jong Un's pledge to get rid of his nuclear weapons.

Pompeo downplayed North Korea's statement after the talks in which the country's foreign ministry bashed hopes for a quick deal and accused the U.S. of making "gangster-like" demands aimed at forcing it to abandon nuclear weapons.

The North's statement, coming so soon after Pompeo's trip, was sure to fuel growing skepticism in the U.S. over how serious Kim is about giving up his nuclear arsenal.

"If those requests were gangster-like, the world is a gangster," Pompeo said, noting that numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions have demanded that the North rid itself of nuclear weapons and end its ballistic missile program.

"People are going to make stray comments after meetings," Pompeo said. "If I paid attention to the press, I'd go nuts."

Speaking after meeting with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Tokyo, Pompeo said his two days of talks in Pyongyang had been productive and conducted in good faith. But following the stinging commentary from the North, he allowed that the goal of denuclearization would be difficult and that much work remains.

"The road ahead will be difficult and challenging and we know critics will try to minimize what we have achieved," he said. Two days of talks with senior North Korean officials had "made progress," he said, and included a "detailed and substantive discussion about the next steps."

Those include the formation of working group to determine exactly how North Korea's denuclearization will be verified and a Thursday meeting with Pentagon officials to discuss the return of remains of Americans soldiers killed during the Korean War.

Pompeo sought to dispel suggestions that the Trump administration has backed down from demanding the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of the North's nuclear weapons. He said North Korea understood that denuclearization must be "complete" and "verified."

However, Pompeo said the progress achieved thus far did not warrant any concessions. "While we are encouraged by the progress of these talks, progress alone does not justify the easing of the sanctions regime," he said.

"Sanctions will remain in place until final fully verified denuclearization as agreed to by Chairman Kim Jong Un has occurred," he said.

After the historic U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore, President Donald Trump declared the North was no longer a threat and would hand over the remains of American soldiers. Yet three weeks later, the two sides were still divided on all the issues, including exactly what denuclearization means and how it might be verified. And, the promised remains have yet to be delivered.

Just hours after Pompeo arrived in Tokyo, the North blasted the discussions, saying the visit had been "regrettable."

In a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, the foreign ministry said the outcome of Pompeo's talks with senior official Kim Yong Chol was "very concerning" because it has led to a "dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm."

"We had expected that the U.S. side would offer constructive measures that would help build trust based on the spirit of the leaders' summit ... we were also thinking about providing reciprocal measures," it said. "However, the attitude and stance the United States showed in the first high-level meeting (between the countries) was no doubt regrettable. Our expectations and hopes were so naive it could be called foolish."

It said the North had raised the issue of formally ending the Korean War, which concluded with an armistice and not a peace treaty, but the U.S. came up with a variety of "conditions and excuses" to delay a declaration. It downplayed the significance of the United States suspending its military exercises with South Korea, something trumpeted by Trump after the summit as a success, by saying it made a larger concession by blowing up the tunnels at a nuclear test site.

In criticizing the talks with Pompeo, however, it carefully avoided attacking Trump personally, saying "we wholly maintain our trust toward President Trump," but stressed that Washington must not allow "headwinds" against the "wills of the leaders." That appeared to be a reference to Trump's national security adviser John Bolton, a prominent North Korea hawk who has been vilified by Pyongyang in the past. Pompeo spoke with Trump, Bolton and White House chief of staff John Kelly on Saturday before his second round of meetings with Kim Yong Chol.

A former top U.S. diplomat for Asia, Daniel Russel, said the setback was to be expected and warned Trump he is engaged in a long negotiation that would not produce easy quick, made for television results that the president likely wants.

"Dealing with North Korea is hard because Kim Jong Un wants it to be hard," said Russel, who was assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Obama administration. "If you make the Americans fight for every inch, the Americans will start measuring progress in inches — and will wind up paying by the inch. At this point, even to get the North Koreans to follow through with the return of Korean War-era MIA remains, would feel like a big win for Pompeo, even though it wouldn't affect the nuclear threat."

"Kim can afford to play hardball because it's clear to him that Trump, who has already told Americans they can sleep soundly because the threat is now over, badly wants a deal," Russel said. "And when you want it bad, you get it bad. Why should the North Koreans make concessions to one of Trump's aides given the president's record of undercutting them?" </s> The hermit state has reportedly executed four foreign ministry officials after Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump’s latest summit, held in February in Vietnam, failed. The officials are thought to have been executed by firing squad in Pyongyang earlier in April. But according to Japanese agency AsiaPress, rumours have circulated that the officials were accused by North Korea of selling information to the US ahead of the summit.

A trade official in the secretive country believe this caused the Hanoi summit to fail and ordered the death of the officials. The deceased officials are said to have also included a diplomat from the North Korean embassy in Hanoi. The country’s media is state controlled, while communication with the rest of the world is restricted. Punishment for anyone sharing information can be severe.

The news agency said one of its reporters had spoken to a trade official as they travelled to Pyongyang from China earlier this month. A source who lives close to the border told the agency that four officials were executed in Pyongyang at the beginning of April for leaking information. It was also claimed the execution was watched by members of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and Korean People's Army.

Yonhap news agency reported North Korea had replaced Kim Jong Un's right-hand man who steered nuclear talks with the United States. Kim Yong Chol, Mike Pompeo’s Korean counterpart, was removed as head of the United Front Department, the North Korean Workers' Party apparatus that traditionally oversees ties with South Korea and increasingly with the United States, reported. A South Korean lawmaker said The NK Worker’s Party blamed the official for the failed summit between the two countries.

A spokeswoman for the US State Department said it was aware of the reports but withheld further comment except to add: "As we have said before, we remain ready to engage in constructive negotiations." Meanwhile the North Korean leader arrived at Russia’s Vladivostok station by armoured train on Wednesday at the start of a state visit to gain the support of President Vladimir Putin. Ahead of the talks on Thursday, Kim told Russian state TV through an interpreter: "I hope that we can discuss concrete questions about peace negotiations on the Korean peninsula, and our bilateral relations."
North Korean state media Korean Central News Agency calls high-level talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "regrettable" and criticizes the United States' "unilateral and gangster-like" demands for denuclearization.