WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th October, 2018) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo kicks-off a three-day tour of East Asia that includes stops in Tokyo, Pyongyang, Seoul, and Beijing on a mission to advance the process of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula and setting up the next summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un.
Pompeo begins his trip in Tokyo on Saturday where he will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before heading to Pyongyang for talks with Kim on October 7. The US Secretary of State then plans to hop over to Seoul to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Foreign Minister Kyung-wha.
Pompeo will end his journey on October 8 in Beijing where he meets with Chinese counterparts "to discuss bilateral, regional, and global issues," according to the State Department.
The common agenda item during each stop of Pompeo's East Asia tour is to move the process to denuclearize North Korea forward while also reassuring allies that Washington will not abandoned them.
The other agenda item is to set up a meeting between Trump and Kim. Pompeo last week said the second Trump-Kim summit, a follow-up to their June meeting in Singapore, is more likely to happen after October.
"Throughout the Secretary's trip he will [Pompeo] reiterate the Administration's continued focus on the final, fully verifiable, denuclearization of the DPRK, and longstanding commitment to our alliances and partnerships in the region," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a press release earlier this week.
Pompeo told reporters this week that he is optimistic his meeting with Kim in Pyongyang on Sunday will result in progress towards denuclearization including a plan forward for the next summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump.
However, on Friday, Pompeo told reporters that he was doubtful all the details will get "nailed down" during the trip.
"There's complex scheduling, logistics issues - that we won't be able to resolve in the hours that we're on the ground," Pompeo said.
Pompeo last week said the second Trump-Kim summit is more likely to happen after October.
US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun will join Pompeo on his trip to Pyongyang. Biegun was appointed to his current position in August and was set to join Pompeo on a trip to Pyongyang then, however, the visit was canceled by US President Donald Trump over a lack of progress in North Korea's denuclearization talks.
Advocacy groups and government officials have encouraged Pompeo to seize the moment and do not let this diplomatic opportunity go to waste by pressing Kim to sign nuclear treaties and end the war on the peninsula.
On Friday, the US Arms Control Association in a statement said Pompeo during his visit to Pyongyang should press North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un to sign the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and warned not to let the diplomatic opportunity slip awayk.
"Hesitation on the part of either side at this point could collapse the fragile diplomatic opportunity that currently exists," the ACA said.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday that they hope to use Pompeo's visit as an opportunity to work closer together on North Korea.
Suga also said Japan hoped for "the full and prompt implementation of the US-North Korean leaders' agreements, including North Korea's commitments to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
South Korean lawmaker Cho Won-jin told Sputnik earlier this week that Pompeo during the meeting must press Kim to provide the exact number of nuclear weapons in the country's arsenal as well as a timeframe for their dismantling.
It will be very difficult, the lawmaker added, to come to an agreement because the North Koreans will no longer make concessions knowing they can "get away without giving anything."
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, however, during an interview with The Washington Post warned that demanding North Korea to provide a list of nuclear inventory at the outset could spark conflict and stall negotiations.
US Senator Edward Markey in a statement on Tuesday said the most recent engagement with North Korea has been filled with "photo ops" and little progress. Markey urged Pompeo to provide more details about the meeting.
"Pompeo still has not explained a coherent strategy to the American people or to Congress. I call on him to brief members before and after his trip, an obligation he has promised, but has not yet delivered," Markey said. "I welcome and continue to support the Trump administration's direct engagement with North Korea, but engagement must not be confused with diplomacy."
In June, Trump and Kim held a summit in Singapore, during which the North Korean leader expressed his country's commitment to abandon its nuclear weapons program, while the United States pledged to provide security guarantees and freeze joint military exercises with South Korea. The White House said that discussions are underway for a second summit between Trump and Kim, but provided no further details on when or where the meeting could happen.
