Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. wants North Korea to take “credible steps” toward giving up its nuclear weapons program, a sign the Trump administration is backing away from demands that Kim Jong Un complete denuclearization before sanctions against his country are eased.
“Our posture will not change until we see credible steps taken toward the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” Pompeo said Wednesday in testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “It’s time to solve this once and for all.”
Ahead of President Donald Trump’s planned meeting with Kim in Singapore on June 12, administration officials had previously suggested that North Korea must give up all its nuclear weapons before any easing of the U.S.-led economic strangulation of the isolated regime.
As Trump and his aides express increasing doubt that the meeting will go ahead as planned, Trump acknowledged to reporters Tuesday that a quick dismantling of Kim’s nuclear arsenal would be difficult.
“All-in-one would be nice, I can tell you,” Trump said as he met at the White House with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. “I’m not going to go beyond that. It would certainly be better if it were all-in-one. Does it have to be? I don’t think I want to totally commit myself.”
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