North Korean Foreign Ministry calls for replacing Pompeo with someone “more mature”

20.04.2019, Pyongyang.

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo should be replaced at the denuclearization talks with someone more mature, stated Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on April 18, Reuters reports.

The statement that North Korea no longer wants to deal with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo came out a few hours after the DPRK announced the testing of a new tactical guided weapon. This is the first weapons test since the late February summit in Hanoi between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.

The chief of the North Korean foreign ministry’s North American department Kwon Jong Gun warned that no one could predict what can happen if Washington does not abandon the “root cause” that compelled Pyongyang to develop nuclear weapons, reported the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The second meeting between the leaders of North Korea and the US at the February summit in Hanoi showed that negotiations could go wrong if “Pompeo pokes his nose in,” reports the agency quoting Kwon Jong Gun. Secretary of State Pompeo’s involvement in the talks would make them “lousy” and confusing, stressed Kwon Jong Gun.

According to Reuters, US officials are downplaying the importance of both events, while Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told reporters that, although the DPRK conducted tests, it was “not a ballistic missile.”

 “Just as this week’s ‘tactical weapon’ test was a signal to warn Trump that his much-vaunted ‘freeze’ is in jeopardy, the verbal attack on Pompeo is meant to encourage Trump to ignore his hardline advisers and make a deal with his ‘friend’ Kim Jong Un,” said Daniel Russell, the top US diplomat for East Asia.

The second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un was held on February 27–28 in the Vietnamese city of Hanoi. After the talks, however, parties did not reach new agreements.

At the moment, the US State Department approved a new meeting between Donald Trump with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It may take place in April.

It should be noted that it is highly likely that Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Kim Jong Un. On April 18, the Kremlin said they are actively preparing for such a meeting. Earlier, the South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that the meeting between Putin and Kim Jong Un could take place in Vladivostok before the start of the One Belt, One Road Summit scheduled for April 26–27 in Beijing.

Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency

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