North Korea says talks with Mike Pompeo were ‘regrettable’

  Mike Pompeo met with North Korea’s Kim Yong Chol for two days in an attempt to make some headway on the denuclearization talks. Mike Pompeo said the meeting went well, was productive, and progress was made although there was still work to be done.

  North Korea’s assessment of the meeting was not nearly so optimistic. North Korea released a statement calling the meeting “regrettable.” Here is more: 

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the U.S. betrayed the spirit of last month’s summit between President Donald Trump and Kim by making “unilateral and gangster-like” demands on “CVID,” or the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea.

It said the outcome of the follow-up talks was “very concerning” because it has led to a “dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm.”

“We had expected that the U.S. side would offer constructive measures that would help build trust based on the spirit of the leaders’ summit … we were also thinking about providing reciprocal measures,” said the statement, released by an unnamed spokesman and carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

“However, the attitude and stance the United States showed in the first high-level meeting (between the countries) was no doubt regrettable,” the spokesman said. “Our expectations and hopes were so naive it could be called foolish.”

  But at the same time the two sides have agreed to more meetings in the future so perhaps there is a little gamesmanship happening here. According to the article linked to above, while North Korea was upset with the way Mike Pompeo handled the meeting they went out of the way to mention they still trust Donald Trump. 

    The odds of reaching an agreement were always long and we know it is going to be difficult if not impossible but with the exception of the people on the left–who want to see the talks fail–most of us are hoping something can be worked out. We know a deal will not be easy but that does not mean it should not be tried no matter how long the odds.

malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium