Secretary of State Mike Pompeo downplayed the summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warning that full denuclearization of the peninsula may not be decided this week.
“There may have to be another summit. We may not get everything done this week. We hope we’ll make a substantial step along the way,” Pompeo said on “Fox News Sunday.”
He said the US’ position is that no concessions will be offered until Kim fully gets rid of his nuclear arsenal.
“There’s been no change in US policy since the time I’ve been secretary of state,” Pompeo said. “Our objectives are clear. Our mission is clear. President Trump has also said this may take time.”
But Democratic Sen. Ed Markey warned Trump to exercise caution while meeting one-on-one with Kim so he doesn’t give concessions without concrete commitments from North Korea.
“Right now, it’s pretty clear that Kim wants to have a personal meeting with Trump with hopes that he can, in fact, elicit concessions from President Trump that might not otherwise be possible if it was just our diplomats talking one on one,” Markey said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.
“Nothing is clear, and I think as a result we could run the risk that Kim is given concessions which are not accompanied by real concessions that the United States is receiving in return from Kim and his regime,” he continued.
Fox host Chris Wallace noted that some progress had been made with North Korea, citing the absence of nuclear tests since 2017, but he also remarked that the regime hasn’t yet surrendered any weapons and that the US intelligence community believes it will not.
“This is a complicated process,” Pompeo responded. “We’ve built up the world’s coalition to communicate to Chairman Kim that now is the time, now is the moment, and I hope we’ll make real progress on that this week.”
Wallace also asked about Trump’s remarks that he and Kim shared letters and “fell in love,” suggesting that Trump may be naive about his relationship with the North Korean despot.
“Relationships matter, Chris. They affect everything in our lives – whether it’s grand strategy and denuclearization or simpler things,” Pompeo said. “It’s important that the two leaders are able to effectively communicate.”
Trump will meet for his second summit with Kim in Hanoi on Tuesday and Wednesday.
It follows a meeting last June in Singapore between the two leaders.
