Kim Refuses to Provide Lists of Nuclear Sites to US - Reports
TOKYO (Sputnik) - North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un refused to provide the list of the Asian nation's nuclear facilities to US State Secretary Mike Pompeo until the signing of a declaration ending the 1950-1953 Korean War, media reported citing sources.
When asked to provide at least a partial list of nuclear sites, Kim allegedly said that in the absence of trusting relationship between Washington and Pyongyang, the United States will not believe the list even if it gets it, according to the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. The Korean War ended with the armistice but a peace treaty was never signed.
Pompeo and Kim Jong-un during their recent meeting in Pyonyang agreed to direct working groups to discuss four point of a document signed in Singapore, State Department said last week. US Secretary of State said after his recent meeting with North Korean leader that he can now see a path forward toward the goal of denuclearizing Pyongyang.
Kim invited inspectors to visit the Punggye Ri nuclear test site to confirm it has been irreversibly dismantled, and both Kim and Pompeo agreed to have working-level teams meet in the near future to discuss other unresolved issues from the Singapore summit, State Department said last week.
The situation on the peninsula improved this year since the leaders of North and South Korea began bilateral talks that resulted in a joint agreement to reach a peace deal. In June, Kim and Trump struck an agreement requiring Pyongyang to denuclearize in exchange for sanctions relief and a halt to US-South Korean military drills.
However, In July, US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said it was unlikely that North Korea would dismantle its nuclear program within a year. US media reported earlier that Pyongyang was continuing to develop its nuclear program and trying to deceive the United States about its denuclearization efforts.
Pompeo went on a three-day tour of East Asia earlier this month with a mission to advance the process of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and setting up the next summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump.
- Source : Sputnik News
