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> U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to North Korea to meet with Chairman Kim Jong-un on Sunday in preparation for a second denuclearization summit between President Donald Trump and the Asian country’s dictator, a Department of State spokesperson said Tuesday.

“These conversations are going in the right direction, and we feel confident enough to hop a plane to head there to continue the conversations,” Heather Nauert, a spokeswoman for DOS, told reporters.

The spokeswoman noted that negotiations to convince Kim to take credible steps towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for relief from international sanctions are ongoing, adding:

I think it shows forward progress and momentum that the secretary is making his fourth trip back in less than a year. The first of course was as CIA director. This will be his third as secretary of state, and that shows the president’s commitment to the agreement that he and Chairman Kim came to at the Singapore Summit [in June]. The secretary going on for follow-on conversations. As we often say, the conversations continue. Of course we have quite a ways to go but we look forward to the next steps in this conversation.

Nauert said that Pompeo remains “hopeful” that the Trump administration’s goal of a complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula might be achieved by January 2021.

The secretary and the president said we’re not going to set arbitrary deadlines in the interim. We’re hopeful. We’re working toward that goal. Everyone recognizes that we have a way to go. A ways to go and a lot of work that is left to be done. I’m not going to get ahead of the secretary’s meetings that he’ll have in Pyongyang but I know he looks forward to continuing the conversation.

Nauert pointed out that the easing of sanctions remains contingent upon the verification of credible steps towards the peninsula’s complete denuclearization, telling reporters:

Our [sanctions] policies [towards North Korea] have not changed one bit. We got behind the maximum pressure campaign. The United States government still stands firmly behind the sanctions put in place. The world stands behind those sanctions that are put in place. We’ve not eased that one bit. In fact, every chance we have the opportunity to discuss – whether it’s with China or Russia or any other country around the world, we’re talking about keeping the sanctions in place and not easing those sanctions on North Korea until we see the fully verified denuclearization.

Her comments came a day after a South Korean minister told lawmakers in his country that dictator Kim is estimated to have up to 60 nuclear weapons, shedding light on the regime’s secret program.

Nauert said last week that Pompeo made plans to travel to North Korea when he met with the Asian country’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on September 26.

“Secretary Pompeo accepted Chairman Kim’s invitation to travel to Pyongyang next month to make further progress on the implementation of the commitments from the US-DPRK Singapore summit, including the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK, and to prepare for a second summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim,” the spokeswoman noted in a statement.

In June, President Trump held an unprecedented meeting with Kim.

Alluding to a second U.S.-North Korea summit that day, President Trump Trump said the meeting would happen “fairly quickly.”

Kim “wants to see things happen for North Korea that are great,” Trump told reporters.

“They really have the potential” to be an economic power, he also said, adding, “A lot of good things are happening.” </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> (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> Aug. 24 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump on Friday said he asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel his planned trip to North Korea, saying he doesn't believe efforts to denuclearize the peninsula are going as planned.

Pompeo was scheduled to travel to North Korea for the fourth time next week to discuss plans to end Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to end the program during a June meeting with Trump in Singapore.

"I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to go to North Korea, at this time, because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Trump wrote in a series of tweets Friday afternoon.

"Additionally, because of our much tougher trading stance with China, I do not believe they are helping with the process of denuclearization as they once were (despite the U.N. sanctions which are in place)."

Trump said Pompeo will return to North Korea "in the near future."

Trump said the meeting with Kim in June was a "first bold step" on the road to denuclearization.

"The past does not have to define the future," the U.S. president said. "And as history has proven, adversaries can indeed become friends, the horrors of battle replaced by the blessings of peace."

The agreement focused largely on promoting denuclearization, while not addressing the issue of human rights that Trump stressed earlier in the year during his first State of the Union address.

Trump described the brutality of human rights abuses as a "rough situation" that may have been avoided during talks. </s> 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> President Donald Trump says he has directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to delay a trip to North Korea, claiming there has been insufficient progress on denuclearisation.

The president tweeted that he does not believe Beijing is helping with the effort to rein in North Korea because of stepped-up pressure by the US on trade with China.

Mr Pompeo has appointed a senior executive with the Ford Motor Company to be his special envoy for North Korea, and said the two would visit next week.

President Trump says he has asked Mr Pompeo "not to go to North Korea, at this time, because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula".

Some independent assessments suggest that North Korea has actually been increasing its nuclear activity. </s> WASHINGTON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he had canceled a planned trip to North Korea by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying progress toward the U.S. goal of a denuclearization of the Korean peninsula was too slow.

"I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to go to North Korea, at this time, because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Trump said on Twitter. (Reporting by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) </s> North Korea's Kim Jong Un has given his first timeline for denuclearization.

Kim says he's aiming for the end of President Donald Trump's first term, Seoul officials said on Thursday.

Kim told South Korean officials his faith in Trump was "unchanged" and that he wanted denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and an end to hostile relations with the United States.

"Kim Jong Un of North Korea proclaims 'unwavering faith in President Trump.' Thank you to Chairman Kim. We will get it done together!" the president wrote.

You may recall, President Trump had previously hailed his landmark June 12 summit with Kim as a success and said the North Korean nuclear threat was over, despite little evidence to back that assertion.

North Korean experts say Kim desperately wants some move toward peace with the United States.

"I think if were able to do that, I think we can go back to Kim Jong Un and say okay the Korean War is over. But at the same time you need to give us some sort of declaration of the size, scope, and scale of your nuclear weapons and missile programs," said Harry Kazianis, Director of Defense Studies at the Center for the National Interest.

Weeks ago, President Trump stopped Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from making a planned trip to the North, saying the timing was not right.

Pompeo, visiting New Delhi, said there was a long road ahead and "an enormous amount of work to do" on the denuclearization process.

"It is the case there is still an enormous amount of work to do," said Pompeo. "We haven't had any nuclear tests, we haven't had any missile tests, which we consider a good thing. But the work of convincing Chairman Kim to make the strategic shift that we talked for a brighter future for the people of North Korea continues."

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet in Pyongyang on Sept. 18-20 for a third summit and discuss "practical measures" toward denuclearization, Moon's national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said a day after meeting Kim.

The summit could provide renewed momentum to talks over denuclearization between North Korea and the United States.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department announced charges Thursday against an alleged hacker for the North Korean government in connection with a series of major cyberattacks including the 2014 assault on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

This is the first time the United States has brought such charges against a Pyongyang operative.

Park Jin Hyok, officials said, is accused of being part of a conspiracy to hack on behalf of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau, the military intelligence agency that controls most of the country's cyber capabilities.

"North Korea's economy is the size of Vermont about $11 billion dollars. They can barely feed their own people. Yet their cyber capabilities are world class," said Kazianis.

He and other unidentified operatives are accused of being members of the Lazarus Group, which also has been implicated in the audacious attempt to steal $1 billion from the Bangladesh Bank in 2016, and to the WannaCry 2.0 virus that affected more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries last year.

Lazarus Group hackers, officials say, broke into the bank's computers and manipulated its access to a global electronic messaging system known as SWIFT, which banks use to send and receive money transfers.

 

 Pyongyang has denied allegations of hacking.

The Treasury Department on Thursday also imposed sanctions against Park and the Chosun Expo Joint Venture, a state-owned firm that employed him in Dalian, China.

"We will not allow North Korea to undermine global cybersecurity to advance its interests and generate illicit revenues in violation of our sanctions," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. "The United States is committed to holding the regime accountable for its cyberattacks and other crimes and destabilizing activities."
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo states in an interview that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will ultimately set the timeline for denuclearization.