Pompeo hopeful about sending team to N.K. in coming weeks

WASHINGTON, March 5 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said he is hopeful about sending a team to North Korea in the coming weeks to resume talks on the regime's nuclear weapons program.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a second summit in Hanoi but failed to reach an agreement on dismantling the nuclear program.

Pompeo said the United States continues to work to make progress on removing the nuclear threat, both bilaterally and with partners around the world.

"In spite of lots of hard work that was done by (the) State Department team, (Department of Defense) team, all the folks at the Department of Energy over the past weeks working with the North Koreans to try and outline what a real big deal would look like, we didn't get there," he said Monday at an event for farmers in Des Moines, Iowa.

"So I am hopeful, although I have no commitment yet, that we will be back at it, that I'll have a team in Pyongyang in the next couple weeks continuing to work to find those places where there is shared interest," he said.

Pompeo characterized the diplomatic push as an effort to persuade North Korea that its nuclear weapons will present a risk to its future, not guarantee its survival as believed by the regime.

The summit broke down in large part due to North Korea's demand for sanctions relief. In return, the regime offered to dismantle its main nuclear facility in Yongbyon, which the U.S. deemed insufficient.

Pompeo said a big component of what Trump offered in return for denuclearization was an opportunity for economic growth.

"It's a place with 25 million people, an economy that has enormous potential for growth, and we believe that there are resources and willing partners who will come if we can make it across the Rubicon on the nuclear weapons to build a brighter future for the people of North Korea," he said.

"And there would almost certainly be an enormous opportunity for American business to serve that 25 million-person market as well."

hague@yna.co.kr
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