Pompeo tasked with detailed plan for denuclearization

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, second from right, greets Kim Yong-chol, second from left, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, as they arrive for a meeting at the Park Hwa Guest House in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday. AP

By Kim Bo-eun

• Published Jul 6, 2018 9:43 AM KST
• Updated Jul 6, 2018 5:21 PM KST

By Kim Bo-eun

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo began talks with North Korean officials on North Korea's denuclearization, Friday, after arriving in Pyongyang earlier in the day.

The follow-up talks come more than three weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the matter in Singapore, June 12.

The agreement reached at the summit was only made in broad terms without specific measures and a timeline for the denuclearization process.

Pompeo has been tasked with making a detailed plan with the North Koreans for these; if he returns home empty-handed or makes a deal for only a minor part of the entire process, skepticism will grow among U.S. government officials and experts that Pyongyang is not really committed to denuclearization.

This is Pompeo's third visit to Pyongyang _ the first was in March and second in May.

The U.S. appears to have shifted from its initial “all or nothing” position on North Korea's denuclearization to a more flexible position to make progress, after weeks of stalled talks.

Up until recently it had maintained North Korea needs to achieve complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID). But it has started using the term “final, fully verified denuclearization (FFVD).” The North has been sensitive to the term CVID.

“Look forward to continuing our work toward the final, fully verified denuclearization (FFVD) of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea),” Pompeo posted on Twitter on his way to Pyongyang.

However, the U.S. department of state said this did not represent any easing on its stance toward denuclearization.

It is to be seen whether the follow-up talks may produce a timeline for the process and an agreement on North Korea's nuclear facilities, a crucial step to enable verification of dismantlement.

U.S. national security chief John Bolton earlier stated that the U.S. could dismantle North Korea's arsenal including all weapons of mass destruction and missile programs within a year, depending on Pyongyang's willingness. However, the department of state said it was not putting forward a specific timeline for the denuclearization process.

If a timeline, a list or any other details are not made during Pompeo's third visit, the Trump administration will face growing voices of skepticism among conservatives in the U.S., after intelligence sources said North Korea was secretly continuing with its nuclear activities.

Rep. Kim Hack-yong of the main conservative Liberty Korea Party here also said he had received a report from the defense ministry that confirmed the North's nuclear activities at the Yongbyon nuclear facility. The ministry said that the report did not definitely confirm the activities but that it is watching the facilities and there is a need for observation.

Marking Pompeo's visit, expectations are that North Korea may deliver the remains of U.S. troops killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, as promised in the joint statement at the June summit.

This is backed by the fact that he is accompanied by several U.S. reporters, including broadcast journalists.

Earlier, the U.S. military sent 100 caskets to the inter-Korean border to bring back the remains.

On his second visit to Pyongyang, Pompeo returned with three U.S. nationals who were released by North Korea from detention. Broadcasters had live coverage of Trump greeting the freed prisoners at an airfield near Washington, D.C.

Pompeo will leave Pyongyang Saturday and head for Tokyo, where he will meet with Korean and Japanese foreign ministers to share the outcome of his meetings in the North.