Pompeo says Trump, Kim could meet ‘before long’
23 September, 2018
The United States is working to set up a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but there is still work to do “to make sure conditions are right,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday.
“We’re working on it. But there’s still a little bit of work to do left to make sure the conditions are right and that the two leaders are put in a position where we can make substantial progress,” Pompeo told Fox News in an interview.
Pompeo told NBC News in a separate interview that he hoped the meeting could take place “before too long,” and that he hoped he himself would get a chance to travel to Pyongyang again to negotiate before that.
But he said international sanctions would have to remain on North Korea until it gave up its nuclear weapons, which are a threat to the United States.
“Ultimately, that’ll be a decision for the president,” Pompeo said of a second summit between Kim and Trump to follow on from their unprecedented June 12 meeting in Singapore.
“I’m hopeful that I’ll get a chance to travel again to Pyongyang to continue to negotiate before too long,” Pompeo said. “And then before too long — and in relatively short order — I hope the two leaders get together again to continue to make progress on this incredible, important issue for the entire world.”
Pompeo added to NBC that important steps had been taken at a summit between the two Koreas last week and that while much more worked needed to be done, the United States had the “patience and determination” to achieve its aim.
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