BEIJING (AP) The United States and its Asian allies worked today to paper over any semblance of disagreement over President Donald Trumps concession to Kim Jong Un that the U.S. will halt military exercises with South Korea, with Trumps top diplomat insisting the president hadnt backed down from his firm line on North Koreas nukes.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meeting in Seoul with top South Korean and Japanese diplomats, put a more sober spin on several moves by Trump after his summit with Kim in Singapore fueled unease in Washington, Tokyo and Seoul. He said Trumps curious claim that the Norths nuclear threat was over was issued with eyes wide open, and brushed off a North Korean state media report suggesting Trump would grant concessions even before the North fully rids itself of nuclear weapons.
Were going to get denuclearization, Pompeo said in the South Korean capital. Only then will there be relief from the sanctions.
Pompeo flew from Seoul to Chinas capital, Beijing, later today for a meeting with President Xi Jinping, whose country is believed to wield considerable influence with North Korea as its chief ally and economic lifeline.
Pompeo said there was still a risk that denuclearization might not be achieved and added there more work to be done by Beijing and Washington.
At a daily briefing, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang reiterated Chinas support for a political settlement, while also pointing to an eventual lifting of United Nations Security Council economic sanctions.
We believe that the sanctions themselves are not the end, Geng said.
China has been praised by Trump for ramping up economic pressure on the North that the U.S. believes helped coax Kim to the negotiating table.
On the joint U.S.- South Korea drills that Trump after meeting Kim said would be terminated, Pompeo emphasized a key caveat: If the mercurial North Korean leader stops negotiating in good faith, the war games will be back on.
The words of reassurance from Pompeo came as diplomacy continued at an intense pace after Tuesdays summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting American president and North Koreas leader in six decades of hostility. In the village of Panmunjom along the North-South border, the rival Koreas today held their first high-level military talks since 2007, focused on reducing tensions across their heavily fortified border.
YET EVEN as U.S. and South Korean officials sought to parlay the momentum from the dramatic summit into more progress on the nuclear issue, there were persistent questions about whether Trump had given away too much in return for too little.
Trumps announcement minutes after the summits conclusion that he would halt the provocative joint military drills were a shock to South Korea and caught much of the U.S. military off guard, too. Pyongyang has long sought an end to the exercises it considers rehearsals for an invasion, but U.S. treaty allies Japan and South Korea view them as critical elements of their own national security.
So Pompeo had some explaining to do as he traveled to Seoul to brief the allies on what transpired in Singapore.
As Pompeo met later with the top Japanese and South Korean diplomats they expressed concerns the freeze had not been fully resolved. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyungwha told reporters afterward that the military drills issue was not discussed in depth.
This is a matter that military officials from South Korea and the United States will have to discuss further and coordinate, Kang said.
