May 24, 2018 - World

Pompeo: North Korea ignored U.S. requests on summit prep

Shannon Vavra

Mike Pompeo looks down, closeup image of his face. — Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that President Trump canceled the North Korea summit in part because North Korea wasn’t responding to inquiries about planning the details of the summit, and that he helped draft Trump's letter canceling the summit.

What Pompeo said: “Over the past many days, we have endeavored to do what Chairman Kim and I had agreed, which was to put teams, preparation teams together to begin to work to prepare for the summit and we have received no response to our inquiries from them.” He also raised the possibility of new sanctions against Pyongyang.

Other highlights from his testimony

North Korea:

Behind the scenes: Pompeo wouldn’t say whether the U.S. gave advance notice to the South Koreans that Trump would be concealing the Kim summit. Moon Jae-in’s office appeared to be caught off-guard.
On China: Pompeo said he’d seen no evidence that China had eased up its sanctions on North Korea.
On the prospects of talks: “The American team is full prepared. I think we’re rocking. I think we’re ready. I think we’re prepared for this meeting."

Iran:

Pompeo said the Trump administration is not looking for regime change in Iran.

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Pompeo: North Korea ignored U.S. requests on summit prep

Other highlights from his testimony

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