President Trump confirmed that Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo made a top secret and highly unusual trip to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over the Easter weekend.
“Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week,” the president wrote on Twitter. “Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of Summit are being worked out now. Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!”
The shock revelation was first reported by The Washington Post.
The meeting set the groundwork for Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong Un planned for early June. The president astounded Washington last month when he announced that he had accepted a meeting with the leader of the rogue nation to talk about North Korea’s ramped up nuclear weapons program.
North Korea has been ostracized for years by the international community for developing its nuclear program and abusing its people. President Trump and Kim Jong Un have made a habit of trading threats and insults during the past year, Trump warning he is willing to attack North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen.” The dictatorship has caused uneasiness in the region by firing test missiles into the Sea of Japan and pointing weapons at South Korea.
“It’s possible things won’t go well and we won’t have the meetings, and we’ll just continue to go on this very strong path we have taken,” Trump cautioned.
The last time top U.S. officials met with North Korea’s leader was in 2000 when then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011 and was the father of the current leader.
Kim Jong-un and South Korean president Moon Jae-in are also planning a summit next week to discuss a possible end to their 68-year state of war since the Korean War.