Pompeo to visit North Korea next week with new special envoy

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, announces former senior executive of Ford Motor Company Stephen Biegun to be special envoy for North Korea, at the State Department in Washington, DC, USA, 23 August 2018. EPA

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday named a Ford Motor Co. executive as special envoy for North Korea and said they would both travel to the nuclear-armed country next week.

Stephen Biegun, 55, who is retiring as Ford's vice president for international governmental affairs, had been considered for the post of President Donald Trump's national security advisor before it went to John Bolton.

"Steve will direct the US policy towards North Korea and lead our efforts to achieve President Trump's goal of the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, as agreed to by chairman Kim Jong Un," Pompeo said.

"He and I will be traveling to North Korea next week to make further diplomatic progress towards our objective," he said.

The trip will be Pompeo's fourth to North Korea, and the second since a historic summit on June 12 between Trump and Kim.

"The State Department has already done excellent work in implementing and sustaining the pressure campaign, putting together the first ever leader-level summit in Singapore and laying the groundwork to hold North Korea accountable to the promises that chairman Kim has made," Pompeo said.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert later said Pompeo was not expecting to meet with Kim.

At the first-ever meeting between sitting leaders of the US and North Korea, Trump and Kim pledged in a joint statement to work toward the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

The statement, however, was short on details and a UN panel of experts has found that North Korea is pressing ahead with its nuclear and missile programs.

Pompeo has insisted that Kim verbally agreed to the complete and verifiable denuclearization of North Korea, under a timetable to be fleshed out in follow-up discussions led by the State Department on the US side. (AFP)

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