ABC News(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he and North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un had a “good conversation” during his recent surprise visit to Pyongyang, and Kim is “prepared to … lay out a map that would help us achieve” denuclearization.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Pompeo told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl that Kim was “very well-prepared. I hope I matched that.”
“We had an extensive conversation on the hardest issues that face our two countries,” Pompeo added. “I had a clear mission statement from President Trump. When I left Kim Jong Un understood the mission exactly as I described it today.”
Pompeo noted that the administration’s objective is “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization” with North Korea.
Pompeo, who was confirmed Thursday at Trump’s second secretary of state, met with Kim over Easter weekend to lay the groundwork for Trump’s planned summit with Kim in May or early June.
The U.S. is demanding that North Korea relinquish its nuclear weapons program, and it has built an international sanctions regime to pressure the regime into doing that.
“Only time will tell if we can get that done,” Pompeo told Karl.
The former CIA director and North Korean leader have a “good relationship,” and their meeting “went very smoothly,” Trump said in an April 18 tweet.
Pompeo is in the Middle East on his first trip as the nation’s top diplomat, with stops in Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Jordan.
See Jonathan Karl’s full interview with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on “This Week” Sunday, April 29.
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