A high-stakes meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a key aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which was to take place on Friday, was suddenly rescheduled without a particular reason, the State Department said.
Such a development may prove to be a possible setback in the nuclear talks between the two countries, which have lately been stalemated.
The decision to postpone the meeting was announced by the State Department last night, while results from the midterm elections were coming in. Spokeswoman Heather Nauert didn’t provide an explanation as to the reasons behind such a move, although there has been speculation that it was a result of North Korea’s unwillingness to cooperate and meet U.S. demands.
According to two diplomatic sources, the United States has requested that Pyongyang make some concessions before another summit between the leaders of the two countries can be scheduled. North Korea, on the other hand, has demanded that the U.S. lift the crippling sanctions imposed on the regime.
However, both President Donald Trump and his secretary of state have insisted that the sanctions will be eased only after North Korea dismantles its nuclear weapons program and allows the international community to verify it has done so.
Following the postponement of the meeting, Nauert said “we will reconvene when our respective schedules permit” and added that “ongoing conversations continue to take place.”
Over the weekend, Pompeo had said he would meet with Kim Yong Chol to “make sure that the summit between our two leaders can take place, where we can make substantial steps towards denuclearization.”
Several days before, a North Korean Foreign Ministry official said that if Washington didn’t ease sanctions, Pyongyang would restart “building up nuclear sources.” North Korea has largely claimed it has taken some steps toward denuclearization, but experts say these steps have mainly been cosmetic and reversible.
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