Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says US will be ready ‘at a moment’s notice’ to resume denuclearisation talks with North Korea
- Declaration from Pompeo comes after US President Donald Trump sent a personal letter to Kim
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday the US was prepared to resume talks with North Korea “at a moment’s notice” if the North signalled it wanted discussions about denuclearisation.
Pompeo said he hoped that a letter recently sent by President Donald Trump to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would “provide a good foundation for us to begin to continue these important discussions with the North Koreans to denuclearise the peninsula”.
The North’s state-run news agency on Sunday described Trump’s letter to Kim as “excellent” and reported that Kim said he would “seriously contemplate” the content. What was in the letter was not revealed by US or North Korean officials. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has said the two leaders have had an ongoing correspondence.
The US has demanded that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons entirely before international sanctions are lifted. For its part, North Korea wants sanctions to be lifted and other concessions by the US as it moves step by step toward denuclearisation.
The second Trump-Kim summit, held last February in Hanoi, ended in failure and formal talks between the two nations broke down. Trump said in June he had received a “beautiful” letter from Kim, not revealing its contents, and recently said had received a “birthday letter” from the North Korean.
Pompeo, who spoke to reporters before leaving Washington for the Middle East, said he hoped working-level talks with North Korea would resume.
“We have been working to lay the foundations for that since Hanoi. We think we’re in a better place. I think the remarks you saw out of North Korea this morning suggest that, that may well be a very real possibility.
Pompeo added: “We’re ready to go. We’re literally prepared to begin at a moment’s notice if the North Koreans indicate that they’re prepared for those discussions.”
