Pompeo meets top North Korean official in New York as summit plans continue

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Pompeo meets top North Korean official in New York as summit plans continue

May 31st, 2018

Awake Goy

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has met with a top North Korean official as the Trump administration races to prepare for its June 12 summit between President Donald Trumpand Kim Jong Un.

Less than a week after the president “canceled” the summit in a dramatic letter, there’s been a flurry of activity between the two countries to make it happen again. There was never an official “back on” message, but Trump tweeted Tuesday that his letter got a “solid response.”

The point person for U.S. preparations, Pompeo, met with Kim Yong Chol, a top adviser to Kim Jong Un and vice chairman of the Central Committee. It’s the third meeting between the two men, after Pompeo’s two trips to Pyongyang in as many months.

Pompeo hosted Kim Yong Chol for dinner Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the residence of the U.S. deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, an apartment on the east side of Manhattan. In photographs released by the State Department, they are seen toasting, shaking hands and smiling — with Pompeo showing off the New York City skyline in one photo. According to a senior State Department official, Pompeo was motioning to “a brighter future” that could be possible for North Korea, in exchange for it ending its nuclear weapons program.

North Korea has denied any interest in U.S. economic assistance, only in ending international sanctions — and on Thursday, the real challenge of negotiating differences begins with a full day of meetings between the two delegations. Pompeo is scheduled to give a press conference afterward in the afternoon.