WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump[1] said Friday he has directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo[2] to delay a planned trip to North Korea[3], citing insufficient progress on denuclearization.
Trump[4] put some blame on Beijing, saying he does not believe China[5] is helping “because of our much tougher Trading stance.”
The surprise announcement appeared to mark a concession by the president to domestic and international concerns that his prior claims of world-altering progress on the peninsula had been strikingly premature.
“I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo[6] not to go to North Korea[7], at this time, because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Trump[8] tweeted Friday, barely two months after his June meeting with the North’s Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
Trump[9]’s comment followed a report issued Monday by the International Atomic Energy Agency outlining “grave concern” about the North’s nuclear program. It came a day after Pompeo[10] appointed Stephen Biegun, a senior executive with the Ford Motor Co., to be his special envoy for North Korea[11] and said he and Biegun would visit next week.
The State Department never confirmed details of the trip, but it had been expected that Pompeo[12] would be in Pyongyang for at least several hours Monday, according to several diplomatic sources familiar with the plan.
White House officials did not immediately comment on what prompted Trump[13] to call off Pompeo[14]’s trip. The State Department had no immediate comment on the matter and referred questions to the White House.
Trump[15] laid unspecified blame on China[16], North Korea[17]’s leading trade partner, which is widely believed to hold the greatest sway over Kim’s government.
The U.S. and China[18] have been locked in a trade dispute for months, with each side ratcheting up tariffs on imports from the other country in what may be the opening salvos of a trade war....
Trump[19] tweeted that “Pompeo[20] looks forward to going to North Korea[21] in the near future, most likely after our Trading relationship with China[22] is resolved.” He added: “In the meantime I would like to send my warmest regards and respect to Chairman Kim. I look forward to seeing him soon!”After more a year of escalating tensions defined by nuclear and missile tests, new sanctions and “fire and fury” rhetoric, Trump[23] made history meeting Kim earlier this year. In the run-up to the summit both nations engaged in hard-nosed negotiation, with Trump[24] publically calling off the meeting in an effort to push Kim to agree to nuclear