| In this Feb. 7 file photo, National Security Adviser John Bolton, left, accompanied by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, speaks before President Donald Trump, right, signs a National Security Presidential Memorandum to launch the "Women's Global Development and Prosperity" Initiative in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. Trump recently fired Bolton. AP-Yonhap |
By Kim Yoo-chul
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will become "the next Henry Kissinger" a senior South Korean lawmaker said Tuesday.
"The dismissal of John Bolton, a longtime hawk on North Korea, means U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will get more authority in formulating and handling Washington's key foreign affairs strategies," Yoon Sang-hyun, chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a news conference.
Between 1973 and 1975, Henry Kissinger served as secretary of state and national security adviser, respectively, becoming Richard Nixon's foreign policy guru. Yoon said the "Kissinger model" may better suit Trump's management style than the formula widely known as a "team of rivals."
Regarding North Korean policy, Pompeo said he isn't seeking regime change in the North, and disagreed with former National Security Adviser John Bolton over the idea of pursuing a "Libyan model" for nuclear disarmament of North Korea, which ultimately resulted in the death of that country's leader, Muammar Gadaffi, after the complete dismantlement of its nuclear arsenal.
The conference came after Yoon returned to Korea after meetings in the U.S. with senior experts on Korean affairs at the White House, the Capitol and think tanks.
Yoon refuted expectations that U.S. special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun will take over Bolton's role as the national security adviser. "I had a 45-minute meeting with Biegun face-to-face on the sidelines of my visit to Washington, D.C. At the meeting, Biegun told me he wasn't interested in taking the national security adviser role," Yoon told reporters, adding the contents and key details of the meeting were off the record.
Yoon said the upcoming working-level discussion between Pyongyang and Washington would focus on exploring ways to complete the fully verified denuclearization of North Korea. "Washington still wants to maintain its principle of achieving the fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, though it seems there will be room in adjusting conditions and prerequisites in achieving the goal."
Sweden, Switzerland and Austria are considered as possible venues for the working-level talks, Yoon said, without elaborating further.