Pompeo: North Korea summit will set ‘framework’ for denuclearization negotiations

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday’s summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will create the “framework” for future negotiations over Pyongyang’s nuclear program. 

During a briefing with reporters on Monday ahead of the historic gathering, Pompeo said the “only outcome the United States will accept” is the “complete and verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

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“President Trump believes that Kim Jong Un has an unprecedented opportunity to change the trajectory of our relationship and bring peace and prosperity to his country,” Pompeo said.

“We are hopeful this summit will have set the conditions for future productive talks.”

Pompeo, who earlier this year traveled to North Korea to meet with Kim, said the United States would keep its sanctions in place until North Korea dismantles its nuclear program.

The historic summit is moving ahead despite the president’s previous decision to cancel the gathering due to Kim’s “open hostility” towards the United States.

Pompeo in his Monday briefing expressed an optimistic tone about the summit, which will be the first time a sitting U.S. president meets with a North Korean leader.

“So these discussions that’ll take place tomorrow between chairman Kim and President Trump will set the framework for the hard work that will follow,” Pompeo told reporters.

“And we’ll see how far we get, but I’m very optimistic that we will have a successful outcome from tomorrow’s meeting between these two leaders.” 

Trump and Kim are slated to meet in Singapore on Tuesday following a year of tense relations between the two countries.

The president during a joint meeting with Singapore’s prime minister on Monday said he believes the gathering will “work out very nicely.”

“As you know, we’ve got a very interesting meeting tomorrow,” Trump told Lee Hsien Loong, according to a White House pool report.

“We’ve got a very interesting meeting, in particular, tomorrow, and I just think it’s going to work out very nicely,” the president added.