US Secretary of State Pompeo says Kim will have to take ‘irreversible’ steps

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview aired on Sunday that he told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he will have to agree to take "irreversible" steps toward shutting his nuclear weapons programme in any deal with US President Donald Trump.

"We use the word ‘irreversible’ with great intention," Pompeo told ABC News. "We are going to require those steps that demonstrate that denuclearisation is going to be achieved.

"Pompeo’s comments were the most extensive yet regarding his Easter weekend talks in Pyongyang with Kim in preparation for a summit next month between the North Korean leader and Trump.

Pompeo, the former CIA director who was sworn in as the top US diplomat on Thursday, said his meeting with Kim was "a productive one" and that he left Pyongyang convinced there is "a real opportunity" for the North Korean leader and Trump to strike a deal.

Kim expressed his readiness to discuss Trump’s demand "and to lay out a map that will help us achieve that objective," Pompeo said.

His assessment likely will add to hopes for a breakthrough that brings peace to the divided Korean peninsula following an historic summit last week between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at which the pair vowed "complete denuclearisation.

"And while Pyongyang says it will close its nuclear test site next month, Kim and Moon did not outline concrete measures to be taken to achieve that goal of denuclearisation. Pompeo made clear that Trump will be seeking Kim’s commitment to such steps, and added that the United States will also take matching actions, without providing details.

Pompeo however cautioned that "there remains a great deal of work to do". And he noted that previous North Korean promises "proved false or unworthy or they were incapable of keeping them.

""Both countries will have to do more than words," said Pompeo. He repeated that Trump will maintain a "pressure campaign" of harsh sanctions on impoverished North Korea until Kim shutters his nuclear weapons programme.

Pompeo said that at Trump’s direction, he spoke with Kim about the release of three US citizens detained by North Korea.

He did not elaborate on the outcome of that discussion. Republican and Democratic lawmakers credited Trump’s strategy for Kim’s readiness to negotiate. But they also cautioned that the initiative could collapse, and the United States find itself in a conflict with North Korea.

"We’re very close to historic peace, but we also are very close to war," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Fox News Sunday. "Because if they play Trump, if Kim Jong Un meets with President Trump and goes back to his old way of doing business, we’re on a path to war.

"Republican Senator James Lankford, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticised Trump for calling Kim "very honorable" on Twitter last week. "I would never use the word honorable to describe Kim Jong Un," Lankford said on CNN. Kim "is a ruthless dictator that does public executions of anyone who ... disagrees with him. He has literally starved his own people to help the elite," said Lankford.