Pompeo Arrives In North Korea; Trump Cites Hope For Detainees

Pompeo Arrives In North Korea; Trump Cites Hope For Detainees - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday to prepare an unprecedented summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, while the U.S. president signalled the possibility that three Americans detained in the country could soon be released.

Trump earlier broke the news of Pompeo's second visit to North Korea in less than six weeks and said that the two countries had agreed on a date and location for the summit, though he stopped short of providing details.

A U.S. media pool report said Pompeo arrived in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, from Japan and headed to the city's Koryo Hotel for meetings.

While Trump said it would be a "great thing" if the American detainees were freed, Pompeo, speaking to reporters en route to Pyongyang, said he had not received such a commitment but hoped North Korea would "do the right thing." Pompeo said his visit was intended to finalise a summit agenda that could enable a "historic, big change" in relations between long-time foes.

While Kim would be giving up the last of his American prisoners, whom North Korea has often used as bargaining chips with the United States, a release could also be aimed at pressuring Trump to make concessions of his own in his bid to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear arsenal, something it has not signalled a willingness to do.

"Plans are being made, relationships are building," Trump said of the planned summit during remarks otherwise focussed on his decision to pull the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

"Hopefully, a deal will happen. And with the help of China, South Korea and Japan, a future of great prosperity and security can be achieved for everyone," Trump said.

Pompeo made a secret visit to North Korea over the Easter weekend, becoming the first U.S. official known to have met Kim, to lay the groundwork for the planned summit. The meeting occurred before Pompeo, who was then head of the CIA, had received Senate confirmation as secretary of state.

Trump suggested that dropping out of the Iran nuclear accord, which he has frequently denounced as a bad deal, would send a "critical message" not just to Tehran but also to Pyongyang.

"The United States no longer makes empty threats. When I make promises, I keep them," Trump said.

But critics of Trump's decision to leave the Iran deal say it could undermine his credibility in North Korea's eyes, fuelling doubts whether he would abide by any nuclear agreement.

FATE OF THREE DETAINEES

Pompeo’s trip this week raised the prospects that the three Korean-American detainees - Kim Hak-song, Kim Sang-duk and Kim Dong-chul - could be turned over to him.

Asked whether that could happen, Trump told reporters: “We’ll soon be finding out. It would be a great thing if they are.”

Pompeo, whom aides say has played a key role in negotiations with North Korea on the issue, said, "We have been asking for the release of these detainees for ... 17 months," according to a transcript provided by the State Department of his remarks to reporters aboard his plane.

"We'll talk about it again today," he said. "I think it'd be a great gesture if they would choose to do so."

Pompeo said he was hoping to nail down a framework for the summit, the first-ever meeting of sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders. Trump has said the meeting could take place at either the heavily fortified demilitarized zone between North and South Korea or in Singapore.

Pompeo met Kim on his first trip but said he did not know whom he would meet this time. If he does see Kim again, he would be only the second secretary of state to sit down with a North Korean leader. The last was Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who made an unsuccessful trip in 2000 to arrange a meeting between President Bill Clinton and Kim's father, Kim Jong Il.

Pompeo said he hoped to set out conditions to allow Trump to achieve the goal of "complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization" of North Korea, but insisted that sanctions would not be lifted before that.