What to expect from Pompeo's third visit to Pyongyang
폼페이오, 내일부터 1박2일 평양 체류…북미 核담판 '2라운드' Mike Pompeo begins his trip to North Korea. The top diplomat will be in Pyongyang for the first time since the landmark summit in Singapore. According to our Lee Jiwon, he is likely to focus on ways to ensure complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization with officials in the regime. The Associated Press reports that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left for his third visit to Pyongyang early Thurday morning, Washington time. He's expected to arrive in North Korea's capital on Friday, local time, for his first overnight stay there... before heading to Japan on Saturday. During his two days in Pyongyang, Pompeo is expected to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and possibly with the vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, Kim Yong-chol, to discuss how to implement the June 12th Joint Statement signed by Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump. U.S. media have recently expressed skepticism over whether the North is sincere about giving up its nuclear program, so many are saying that Pompeo has to come back with some concrete plans. A major question is whether the North will, as a first step, have its missile and nuclear materials removed from the country, as some U.S. officials have suggested,... and whether the regime will disable its nuclear plants and reactors at Yongbyon. Also, President Trump has said the North promised to shut down a missile engine testing site, believed to be the one at Tongchang-ri, so observers will be looking to see if they set a date for that. From his last visit, Pompeo brought home 3 American detainees, so there's hope that this time he'll bring back the remains of some 200 American soldiers killed in the Korean War, which the North has promised to return. There's also the question of what the U.S. will offer in exchange... in terms of establishing formal diplomatic ties. As for the process of the North's denuclearization, things may have changed slightly. The State Department, in a press statement, recently introduced a new phrase -- "final, fully verified denuclearization" -- and some experts say that in this week's talks Pompeo might put more emphasis on the 'verifiable' part. "From the mantra 'complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization' the U.S. changed to FFVD. The 'I' has disappeared which could be due to North Korea's protest in dealing with its nuclear scientists and knowledge. The emphasis is now on 'verified' and that's something Pompeo had also stressed at the press briefing the day before the summit." Reuters, however, reported that this change shows that the Trump administration has softened its approach toward North Korea's denuclearization. It said the U.S., taking advice from South Korea,... took a step back from its all-or-nothing posture. But we'll know soon whether or not the North will accept this new term in their second round of denuclearization talks. Lee Ji-won, Arirang News. Arirang News Facebook: / arirangtvnews ------------------------------------------------------------ [Subscribe Arirang Official YouTube] ARIRANG TV: / arirang ARIRANG RADIO: / music180arirang ARIRANG NEWS: / arirangnews ARIRANG K-POP: / arirangworld ARIRANG ISSUE: / arirangtoday ARIRANG CULTURE: / arirangkorean ARIRANG FOOD & TRAVEL : / arirangfoodtravel ------------------------------------------------------------ [Visit Arirang TV Official Pages] Facebook: / arirangtv Twitter: / arirangworld Instagram: / arirangworld Homepage: http://www.arirang.com ------------------------------------------------------------ [Arirang K-Pop] YouTube: / arirangworld Facebook: / arirangkpop Google+: http://plus.google.com/+arirangworld
