Pompeo: US will drop DPRK talks if deal goes bad

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the United States is prepared to walk away from negotiations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) if the upcoming talks on its nuclear program head in the wrong direction.

"A bad deal is not an option. The American people are counting on us to get this right. If the right deal is not on the table, we will respectfully walk away," Pompeo said in his opening remarks for a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

Pompeo said the US campaign to pressure on Pyongyang was bearing fruit. “Our posture will not change until we see credible steps taken toward the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

During questioning, Pompeo said the United States had no intention of making concessions to Pyongyang in talks between President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testifies at a hearing of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, May 23, 2018. /Reuters Photo

Pompeo also addressed Iran’s nuclear program, telling the hearing the Trump administration intends to work with “as many partners, friends and allies as possible” to stop what he described as all of Tehran’s nuclear and non-nuclear threats.

Trump, a Republican, announced earlier this month that he would reimpose many sanctions on Iran lifted under a 2015 international nuclear agreement reached under his predecessor, Democratic president Barack Obama.

DPRK will be destroying all of the tunnels at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in front of invited foreign media. Located in the country's North Hamgyong Province which borders China, the Punggye-ri test site is where Pyongyang conducted all six nuclear tests.

The test site is thought to be the DPRK's main nuclear facility and the only active nuclear testing site in the world.

The group of foreign journalists, including a CGTN team, left Beijing Capital International Airport on Tuesday morning to Wonsan in the DPRK, under the invitation of the DPRK government, to witness the demolition of the nuclear test site.

Source(s): Reuters