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| U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Kim Bo-eun
The U.S. is pressuring North Korea over verification steps for its denuclearization measures ahead of a second summit between leaders. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo emphasized "Chairman Kim Jong-un vowed to work toward complete denuclearization," and stressed the role of verification in the process, in an interview with CBS in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday.
"We're going to have to see that he does this," he said. "We're going to have to be able to verify that he does it."
"Verification is what the U.S. regards as most important in North Korea's denuclearization process," Handong Global University professor Park Won-gon said.
Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University, agreed. On whether North Korea would be willing to do this, he said "North Korea needs the incentives the U.S. is set to provide, so it will likely agree to verification."
On the extent of verification the two countries are likely to agree to ahead of their summit, Koh said this would likely concern "the facilities the North stated it dismantled last year, and possibly the Yongbyon nuclear site."
This is a shift from the stance the U.S. maintained last year ― that North Korea should submit a full list of its nuclear inventory as the first step toward verifiable denuclearization. Denuclearization talks between the countries reached an impasse as Pyongyang refused to follow through.
It is likely that Washington will call for this at a later point in the denuclearization process. U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said a declaration of missile programs should be made "at some point," in a speech at Stanford University last month.
North Korea claimed to have dismantled facilities at its Punggye-ri nuclear and Tongchang-ri missile testing sites, but these have yet to be verified. At the third inter-Korean summit last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un offered to invite international experts to observe the permanent shutdown of Tongchang-ri. It stated it would dismantle Yongbyon permanently if the U.S. took "corresponding measures."
The U.S. understanding of verification entails inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency entering the North Korean sites, a move which a source told The Korea Times could be accepted by North Korea.
Working-level talks between Biegun and his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok-chol are set to resume this weekend. Pompeo said a team will leave this weekend "to travel to Asia to continue to prepare for the summit." Two separate preparations for drawing up a joint statement for the summit and logistics are set to take place.
In a news conference in Warsaw, Pompeo said leaders of the U.S. and North Korea would be discussing the "denuclearization pillar they agreed to" at their first summit as well as other matters at the upcoming summit.
"We'll certainly talk about how we reduce tension, reduce military risks, take down that risk so that we can get peace and security on the peninsula as well," he said.
"We are aiming to get this as far down the road as we can in what is now a couple of weeks."
In an interview with Fox News, Pompeo said the two countries have had extensive discussions on ending the 1950-53 Korean War and that this will continue to be discussed in upcoming working-level negotiations.
Pompeo, meanwhile, affirmed that sanctions relief will be a measure awaiting Pyongyang.
"It's our full intention of getting a good outcome in exchange for relieving those sanctions; I'm very hopeful that we can do that," he said.
