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North Korea nuclear crisis
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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens to President Donald Trump during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Mike Pompeo says that North Korea deal ‘may take some time’ and that sanctions will remain in place

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Pyongyang had reaffirmed its commitment to give up its nuclear weapons

Reaching a denuclearisation deal with North Korea “may take some time”, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday, reiterating that sanctions would continue to be enforced in the meantime, even as Russia’s envoy to Pyongyang proposed discussions on easing them.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting led by US President Donald Trump, Pompeo, who held inconclusive talks in North Korea earlier this month, said progress had been made on some issues.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” Pompeo said. “It may take some time to get where we need to go. But all of this will be taking place against the backdrop of continued enforcement of existing sanctions.”

Pompeo said North Korea had reaffirmed its commitment to give up its nuclear weapons and that progress had been made on arranging the return of remains of American soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean war.

“I think in the next couple weeks we’ll have the first remains returned. That’s the commitment,” Pompeo said.

He said that while more work was needed, it was “a very hopeful place that we find ourselves with, making a strategic change for North Korea, giving them the opportunity for a brighter future for their people”.

Pompeo pushes back against North Korean sanctions-relief claims

Pompeo travelled to North Korea this month hoping to agree a road map for denuclearisation, but any progress has appeared limited, and Pyongyang issued an angry statement as soon as he left, accusing his delegation of making “gangster-like” demands.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a broad commitment to denuclearise at an unprecedented summit with Trump in June, but offered no details as to how and when this might take place, leaving considerable doubts about Pyongyang’s intentions.

US President Donald Trump confers with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (left) during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Photo: AP

The Trump administration has given no indication as to when talks on denuclearisation might resume and has appeared to back away from trying to set a timeline for the process.

On Tuesday, Trump said there was “no time limit” and reiterated in a tweet on Wednesday that there was “no rush,” noting that sanctions remained in place and there would be big benefits for North Korea at the end of the process.

China’s trade with North Korea nosedives as UN sanctions bite

Trump also said he elicited a promise from Russian President Vladimir Putin in their Helsinki meeting on Monday to help negotiate with North Korea, but did not say how.

While the United States has stressed the need to maintain sanctions on North Korea, Russia’s envoy to Pyongyang was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying it would be logical to raise the question of easing sanctions with the UN Security Council, given positive changes.

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