North Korea agrees to allow international inspectors into nuclear testing sites, Mike Pompeo says

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang on Sunday
REUTERS
Michael Howie8 October 2018

North Korea is ready to allow international inspectors into its nuclear and missile testing sites, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced today.

Mr Pompeo, who met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a short trip to Pyongyang yesterday, said the inspectors would visit a missile engine testing facility and the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site as soon as the two sides agree on logistics.

The inspection issue is one of the main sticking points over a denuclearisation pledge agreed between Kim and President Donald Trump at their historic Singapore summit in June.

“There’s a lot of logistics that will be required to execute that,” Mr Pompeo told a news briefing in Seoul, before leaving for Beijing.

Mr Pompeo’s trip to Pyongyang, his fourth this year, followed a stalemate over US demands for North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal
AFP/Getty Images

Stephen Biegun, the new US nuclear envoy who was accompanying Mr Pompeo, said he offered to meet his counterpart, vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui, “as soon as possible” and they were in discussion over specific dates and the location.

The top US diplomat also said both sides were “pretty close” to agreement on the details of a second summit, which Kim proposed to Mr Trump in a letter last month.

“Most importantly, both the leaders believe there’s real progress that can be made, substantive progress that can be made at the next summit,” Mr Pompeo said.

Mr Pompeo’s trip to Pyongyang, his fourth this year, followed a stalemate as North Korea resisted Washington’s demands for irreversible steps to give up its nuclear arsenal, including a complete inventory of its weapons and facilities.

He told South Korean President Moon Jae-in that his latest trip to Pyongyang was “another step forward” to denuclearisation, but there were “many steps along the way”.

At last month’s inter-Korean summit, the North expressed its willingness to close the Yongbyon nuclear complex if Washington takes corresponding action, which Mr Moon said would include a declaration of an end to the 1950-53 Korean War.

Mr Pompeo declined to comment whether there was progress on a shutdown of the Yongbyon site.

Mr Pompeo’s meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi got off to a frosty start today.

Mr Wang said: “Recently, as the US side has been constantly escalating trade friction toward China, it has also adopted a series of actions on the Taiwan issue that harm China’s rights, and has made groundless criticism of China’s domestic and foreign policies.”

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