North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US secretary of state Mike Pompeo agreed to arrange a second leaders summit "as soon as possible", and discussed potential US monitoring of Pyongyang's steps toward denuclearisation, South Korea's presidential office said on Sunday.
Mr Pompeo said his latest, fourth trip to Pyongyang was "another step forward" to denuclearisation and he had a "good, productive conversation" with Mr Kim, but more needed to be done.
South Korean president Moon Jae-in held talks with Mr Pompeo in Seoul after the top US diplomat met with Mr Kim for more than three hours during a short trip to Pyongyang that was aimed at breaking a gridlock in their nuclear negotiations.
Mr Pompeo said he and Mr Kim discussed denuclearisation steps to be taken by the North and the issue of US government monitoring of those actions, which Washington sees as vital, as well as the measures the United States would conduct in return, Mr Moon's office said.
Mr Pompeo and Mr Kim also agreed to form a working group "at an early date" to discuss the denuclearisation process and the second summit, which Mr Kim proposed to US president Donald Trump in a letter last month, according to Mr Moon's press secretary, Yoon Young-chan.
Discussions
"Secretary Pompeo said he and chairman Kim concurred that they will hold the second US-North Korea summit as soon as possible," Mr Yoon said in a statement.
“The two sides also agreed to continue discussions to decide on the detailed timing and location of the second summit.”
While Seoul sounded upbeat, Mr Pompeo struck a more cautious tone.
“As President Trump said, there are many steps along the way and we took one of them today,” Mr Pompeo told Mr Moon. “It was another step forward. So this is, I think, a good outcome for all of us.”
Mr Moon expressed hopes that Mr Pompeo’s trip and the proposed second meeting between Mr Kim and Mr Trump would make “irreversible, decisive progress in terms of denuclearisation as well as the peace process.”
Mr Moon had his own third summit with Mr Kim last month in Pyongyang, which was partly intended to help salvage the stumbling negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington, after Mr Trump called off Mr Pompeo’s planned visit to the North in late August citing lack of progress.
A US official who was part of Mr Pompeo’s delegation said the trip was “better than the last time” but added: “It’s going to be a long haul.”
Mr Kim pledged to work toward denuclearisation during the Singapore summit, but Pyongyang's actions have since fallen short of US demands for irreversible steps to give up its arsenal.
At his last meeting with Mr Moon, he expressed willingness to allow outside observations of key missile facilities and, for the first time, to “permanently” scrap North Korea’s main nuclear complex in Yongbyon.
But the inter-Korean agreement again failed to stipulate any plans called for by the US, such as to declare a list of its nuclear weapons, facilities and materials, or a concrete timeline for denuclearisation.
Seoul is keen to keep the dialogue going, with foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha suggesting Washington delay securing the list, which she said would “take a lot of back and forth”, and agree to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War in return for a shutdown of Yongbyon.
Good future
Shortly after arriving in South Korea, Mr Pompeo posted a photograph of himself walking along with Mr Kim on Twitter, saying: "Had a good trip to #Pyongyang to meet with Chairman Kim. We continue to make progress on agreements made at Singapore Summit. Thanks for hosting me and my team @StateDept."
Mr Kim and Mr Pompeo met for about two hours, and then had lunch together at the Paekhwawon, or 100 Flowers Garden, a prestigious state guesthouse, for another hour and a half, according to a pool report.
“It’s a very nice day that promises a good future for both countries,” Mr Kim said, speaking through an interpreter, as he sat down at the lunch table with Mr Pompeo.
“Thank you for hosting, President Trump sends his regards. And we had a very successful morning, so thank you and I am looking forward to our time here at lunch as well,” Mr Pompeo said.
Mr Pompeo’s last trip did not go well. He left Pyongyang in July hailing progress, only for North Korea to denounce him for making “gangster-like demands”. Mr Pompeo did not meet Mr Kim on that trip.
Mr Pompeo visited Tokyo on Friday and is also due to travel to Beijing before returning home on Monday.
Mr Pompeo had said en route to Asia he aimed "to make sure we understand what each side is truly trying to achieve". He said he also hoped to agree a "general date and location" for a second summit.
But he declined to comment when asked if he would agree to North Korean demands for a declaration to end the Korean War or to South Korea’s suggestion that to break the current stalemate, he should avoid pressing again for an inventory of North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
Mr Trump has appeared eager to meet Mr Kim again, even though the two sides are seen far from narrowing their differences.
"Trump will likely be tempted to hold such a summit quickly to make history and drive headlines, pointing to another success right before the midterm elections," said Harry Kazianis, director of defence studies at the Center for the National Interest in Washington.
“That could mean the administration offers, and North Korea accepts, a political declaration that ends the Korean War in exchange for a big action towards denuclearisation, such as the closing of the Yongbyon nuclear complex.”
– Reuters