Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had a phone call with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts on Tuesday, just moments after President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended.
“Just spoke with FM Kono & FM Kang to provide a brief readout of today’s meeting btw @POTUS & Chairman Kim at #singaporesummit,” Pompeo tweeted, referring to Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.
Trump and Kim finalized the historic summit on Tuesday in Singapore by signing a joint statement which committed the U.S. to unspecified “security guarantees” for North Korea in exchange for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.
“President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to [North Korea], and Chairman Kim Jong-Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” the statement said.
However, the statement detailed no specifics on what the security assurances from the U.S. will be nor what steps North Korea needs to take on denuclearization.
Rather, it commits both countries to holding further negotiations led by Pompeo and a “relevant” North Korean official at “the earliest date possible.”
According to Reuters, Pompeo is scheduled to travel to Seoul on Wednesday and Thursday to further brief South Korean and Japanese officials on the results of the meeting.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is considered to be one of the most important people in facilitating the Trump-Kim summit and has staked much of his political capital on a rapprochement with Pyongyang.
Meanwhile, Japan had no direct contact with North Korea and was hoping that the U.S. will represent its interests in the summit. Tokyo demanded from Washington to address all ranges of North Korea’s missiles as well as North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe praised the joint statement signed by President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore as a first step in the denuclearization of North Korea.
“We see this as a step in a comprehensive resolution,” Abe said in Tokyo.
Abe also added that he “would like to thank the president (Trump) for raising the abduction issue,” referring to Japan’s demand that Pyongyang releases any remaining Japanese people it abducted to train its spies.
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