[Yonhap News Photo]
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left for North Korea to flesh out a deal on dismantling the regime's nuclear weapons program.
Pompeo boarded a plane at Joint Base Andrews, just outside of Washington, early in the day, on his first trip to Pyongyang since last month's historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The two leaders reached a broad agreement to work toward the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S.
Pompeo is slated to arrive in Pyongyang Friday (local time) following a stop in Anchorage, Alaska. He is expected to hold a day and a half of meetings through Saturday, including with Kim, to hammer out details. Key issues include securing a declaration of all of North Korea's nuclear arsenal, a verification regime for dismantlement and a timeline for denuclearization.
As part of the summit agreement, North Korea could also deliver the remains of American soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.
"Looking forward to continuing our work toward the final, fully verified denuclearization of #DPRK, as agreed to by Chairman Kim," Pompeo tweeted en route, using the acronym for North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
