Pompeo expects 'good marker' with DPRK by end-February

World
Europe

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday there remained “an awful lot of work to do” to achieve the denuclearization of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) but he anticipates further progress by the end of next month, when the U.S. and DPRK leaders are expected to meet for a second summit.

Pompeo, addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos via satellite link, said he believed by the end of February “we'll have another good marker along the way” with Pyongyang.

“There remains an awful lot of work to do, but good things have happened already,” Pompeo said, referring to a freeze in DPRK's nuclear and missile testing since 2017.

The White House said last week President Donald Trump would hold a second summit with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un in late February, but the United States would maintain economic sanctions on the country.

The announcement came during a visit to Washington by Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the DPRK's ruling Korean Workers' Party Central Committee.

Borge Brende, president of World Economic Forum, stands on stage while U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is seen on screens as he addresses attendees via satellite, during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2019. /VCG Photo

There has been no indication of any narrowing of differences over U.S. demands that the DPRK abandons a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States and Pyongyang's demands for a lifting of punishing sanctions.

Pompeo said last week's talks brought “further progress” and was an opportunity for U.S. Special Representative for DPRK Stephen Biegun to meet his “newly designated counterpart.”

“They were able to discuss some of the complicated issues towards achieving what the two leaders laid out back last June in Singapore,” he said.

Pompeo said there had been “a little bit more progress” in discussions at the weekend in Stockholm, where Biegun met DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui.

Washington has been keen to set up talks between Biegun and Choe but Pyongyang has resisted, apparently wanting to keep exchanges with the United States at high level.

Pompeo said he saw an important role for the private sector in helping to develop the DPRK “if we can make a substantial step towards achieving denuclearization and create the right conditions.”

“We did have a good conversation about that,” Pompeo said. “There's not much role for the private sector today, but if we're successful ... it'll be the private sector that sits there, looming in the background,” he said.

Source(s): Reuters