By Sohn JiAe

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that he had productive talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) of North Korea during his secret visit to Pyeongyang in late March.

The secretary of state said in an interview with ABC News on April 29 that, “We had an extensive conversation on the hardest issues that faces the two countries. I had a clear mission statement from President Trump. When I left, Kim understood the mission exactly.”

“Kim agreed that he was prepared to talk about that [CVID] and to lay out a map that would help us achieve that objective,” he stated.

When asked if he was thinking that the North was sincerely ready to give up its nuclear weapons programs, Pompeo responded that, "Kim is going to have to make a decision. Does he want the pressure campaign [against his country] to continue? Or is he looking for something big and bold and different, something that hasn’t happened before? I don't know which way it will go. As the president has said, only time will tell. We have an obligation to engage in diplomatic discourse to try and find a peaceful solution so that Americans aren’t held at risk by Kim and his nuclear arsenal.”

As for the sight of the North Korean leader stepping onto South Korean territory for the first time in history on April 27, Pompeo stressed that, “I think it’s a big deal. It’s important. Every step along the way matters. The objective remains the same: CVID. That’s been the Trump administration’s goal.”

jiae5853@korea.kr