INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
US President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June in Singapore
Korean leader Kim Jong Un can be scheduled for early 2019."We are hopeful that in the new year, President Trump and Chairman Kim will get
together not too long after the first of the year and make even further progress on taking this (nuclear) threat to the United States away
from us," Pompeo said in an interview with KNSS Radio in his home state of Kansas.Pompeo, who has traveled four times this year to North
Korea in search of a breakthrough, said the situation had "undoubtedly" improved since 2017's high tensions that led to fears of war."No
more missiles being tested, no more nuclear testing
We're in a better place today," he said.Trump met Kim in June in Singapore in the first-ever summit between leaders of the two countries
that never officially ended the 1950-53 Korean War.Trump has frequently cited North Korea as a success story as he seeks an accord in which
Pyongyang would give up its nuclear weapons.Pompeo's optimism comes despite an apparent standstill in negotiations to prepare for the
summit, with a senior North Korean official abruptly canceling a meeting with the secretary of state scheduled last month in New York.North
Korea has also condemned the US decision to slap sanctions on senior aides to Kim over human rights concerns, although Pyongyang was careful
to blame the State Department and voice faith in Trump.Critics say that North Korea has made no concrete commitments and is unlikely to
surrender its nuclear weapons program, which the Kim dynasty has built for decades even as the country starved.(Except for the headline,
this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
