Kim ready to invite inspectors to N-Korea's nuclear site: Pompeo
International inspectors will be allowed into North Korea's dismantled nuclear testing site, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, after a meeting with Kim Jong-un in which, he said, "significant progress" was made towards denuclearization. Pompeo met with the N-Korean leader in Pyongyang yesterday to rekindle stalled denuclearization talks following a landmark summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Singapore. Here's more.
N-Korea destroyed Punggye-Ri facility in May, observers yet to verify
"Chairman Kim said he's ready to allow them to come in" to see the dismantled Punggye-Ri nuclear test site, Pompeo said. North Korea destroyed the Punggye-Ri facility in the country's Northeast in May but has yet to allow international observers into the site to verify its claims. The facility was the staging ground for all six of the North's nuclear tests.
Denuclearization of North Korea is 'a long process', says Pompeo
The inspectors will be allowed in as soon as the two sides agree on "logistics", Pompeo said in Seoul, South Korea's capital. Denuclearization of N-Korea is "a long process", Pompeo said, adding, "(But) We made significant progress." This was Pompeo's fourth visit to North Korea.
US has been pushing for 'fully verified denuclearization' of N-Korea
Trump met Kim in Singapore in June for the first-ever summit between the two countries, resulting in what critics say was only a vague commitment by Kim towards denuclearization. The two sides have since sparred over the exact terms of the vaguely-worded deal, with the US pushing for a "final, fully verified denuclearization," while Pyongyang slammed Washington for its "gangster-like" demands for its unilateral-disarmament.
