US President Donald Trump on Wednesday confirmed that CIA director and soon to be US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with North Korean President Kim Jong-Un in North Korea last week.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday confirmed that CIA director and soon to be US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with North Korean President Kim Jong-Un in North Korea last week.
"Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. 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!" Trump tweeted.
Earlier, Trump said on Tuesday the United States was engaged in direct talks at "extremely high levels" with North Korea to try to set up a summit between him and its leader, Kim Jong Un.
Trump sowed some confusion by suggesting he had been speaking to Kim directly, but later clarified by saying: "Let's leave it a little bit short of the highest level." Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders added: "The president said the administration has had talks at the highest levels and added that they were not with him directly."
Earlier, Pompeo's conversations fuelled President Donald Trump's belief that productive negotiations were possible with North Korea, but far from guaranteed, according to the official briefed on the trip, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The president disclosed the direct talks as he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe opened two days of talks at the president's Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida.
Reflecting the closeness of their ties, the meetings included a walk around the carefully manicured grounds of the beachfront club and dinner on the patio with their wives. A round of golf was planned for Wednesday.
Trump said he believed there was a lot of goodwill in the diplomatic push with North Korea, but added it was possible the summit - first proposed in March and which the president said could take place in late May or early June - may not happen.
Efforts to arrange an unprecedented meeting between the US and North Korean leaders have helped ease tensions over Pyongyang's development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States. Kim has agreed to discuss denuclearization, according to US and South Korean officials.
"We have had direct talks at very high levels – extremely high levels - with North Korea. I really believe there's a lot of goodwill; a lot of good things are happening." Trump told reporters."As I always say, we'll see what happens, because ultimately it's the end result that matters, not the fact that we're thinking about having a meeting or having a meeting."
Trump did not identify who on the US side was talking to the North Koreans and senior US officials would not comment.
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