Editor’s note: This news analysis is based on an exclusive interview with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo[1].
IN FLIGHT OVER THE PACIFIC — Say whatever else you want about President Trump[2]’s relentless tornado diplomacy aimed at North Korea[3], it is at least original.
“Unconventional,” admits Secretary of State Mike Pompeo[4] with a smile.
“He stares at these problems and says if we keep banging away the way we have been forever — the positions are staked out — the likelihood of success is almost nil,” he told The Washington Times. “Let’s try and come at this from a different direction.”
Mr. Trump[5]’s latest meeting with North Korean President Kim Jong-un — whom he once dubbed “Little Rocket Man” — came about in typical Trump[6] fashion.
The president was going to be in South Korea after G20 meetings in Japan[7] “and says ‘I’m gonna be up there,’” Mr. Pompeo[8] recounted. “From Pyongyang to the border is not that far. Maybe Chairman Kim will come meet me!”
This alone would be enough to make history. But Mr. Trump[9] was not finished doing things differently.
“He decides the best way to communicate this is to the world,” Mr. Pompeo[10] says.
So Mr. Trump[11] took to Twitter.
“After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving
Japan[12] for South Korea (with President Moon),” the president tweeted to his 61 million followers around the world at 7:51 a.m. Saturday. “While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea[13] sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!”Within an hour,
Mr. Pompeo[14] said, they heard from officials in North Korea[15].“They responded saying, ‘Hey, what does this mean? What are you really thinking?’”
It was,
Mr. Pompeo[16] said, “20, maybe 30, hours between tweet and meeting.”Globetrotting week
In his first interview just hours after returning from the DMZ with
Mr. Trump[17], Mr. Pompeo[18] is clearly pleased with the day’s events. He is seated at the desk in his office aboard the Air Force 757 carrying him home after an eight-day diplomatic journey around the world.Last week,
Mr. Pompeo[19] headed east out of Washington to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates along the Gulf of Oman, where Iran is accused of bombing two oil tankers and is threatening to resume enrichment of nuclear material.Then...