Mike Pompeo’s Meeting With North Korean Official Kim Yong Chol Gets Postponed

The meeting between the United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, which was scheduled to take place in New York on Thursday, has reportedly been postponed.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert announced the news in a statement released late Wednesday, without giving a specific reason for the decision. As per the statement, Pompeo’s meeting with Kim Yong Chol will now take place at an unspecified later date.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he expects his second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will take place sometime early next year.

“We’re going to change it because of trips that are being made,” Trump told reporters at a post-election press conference, reported CNN. “We’re going to make it at another date. We’re very happy how it’s going with North Korea. We think it’s going fine. We’re in no rush. We’re in no hurry.”

Although Trump claims that the relationship between the US and North Korea is getting better, the administration has made little progress on North Korea’s denuclearization since Trump and Kim Jong Un met in Singapore in June. The two leaders signed a short statement at the summit that pledged a denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

In fact, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry official recently warned that denuclearization talks may get affected if the US doesn’t change its stance in removing the sanctions. North Korea warned that it could resume its state policy of strengthening its nuclear arsenal.

While the United States is ready to remove the sanctions only after North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons, North Korea is willing to give up its nuclear weapons only after the US lifts up the sanctions levied on the country.