North Korea wants Pompeo out of talks; Kremlin announces an April visit by Kim Jong Un
WASHINGTON – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the testing of a new "tactical guided weapon" on Wednesday, as the country asked that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo be pulled from negotiations.
And on Thursday the Kremlin announced Kim will visit Russia this month, offering President Vladimir Putin an opportunity to emerge as a broker in the long-running nuclear standoff.
North Korea's first publicly announced weapons test since last year comes amid growing signs that Kim has soured on his negotiations with President Donald Trump. Those talks collapsed in Hanoi in February, after Trump and Kim failed to reach an agreement on North Korean denuclearization in exchange for international sanctions relief.
The country's state-run news outlet KCNA did not specify what kind of weapon the North Koreans tested but said the event was "of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power" of the country's military.
North Korea's director general of its American Affairs Department, Kwon Jong Gun, issued a statement saying Pompeo has been "talking nonsense" while misrepresenting comments from Kim, the Associated Press reported.
Pompeo recently said during a speech that Kim promised to denuclearize during his first summit with Trump.
“He (Kim) said he wanted it done by the end of the year,” Pompeo said. “I’d love to see that done sooner.”
But North Korea issued a statement saying he was "misrepresenting the meaning of our requirement," which they say call for negotiations to be done by the end of the year, according to AP.
The White House did not immediately comment on the development.
North Korea stopped its testing of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles at the end of 2017, and Kim declared the country's nuclear weapons program "complete." Trump has touted the testing pause as proof of progress in his negotiations with Kim. Earlier this year, the president said he's not in a hurry to press North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal as long as Kim doesn't resume testing.
"As long as there's no testing, I'm in no rush," Trump told reporters in February as he prepared for a summit with Kim in Hanoi. "If there's testing, that's another deal."
Amid news of the tests, North Korea's director general of its American Affairs Department, Kwon Jong Gun, issued a statement saying Pompeo has been "talking nonsense" while misrepresenting comments from Kim, the Associated Press reported.
Pompeo recently said during a speech that Kim promised to denuclearize during his first summit with Trump.
“He (Kim) said he wanted it done by the end of the year,” Pompeo said. “I’d love to see that done sooner.”
But North Korea issued a statement saying he was "misrepresenting the meaning of our requirement," which they say call for negotiations to be done by the end of the year, according to AP.
The North Koreans called for someone "more careful and mature in communicating with us."
At the Hanoi summit, Kim offered to dismantle North Korea's main nuclear facility, Yongbyan, in exchange for major sanctions relief. Trump rejected that, instead pushing Kim to give up North Korea's entire stockpile of nuclear bombs, missiles and other capabilities, in exchange for full sanctions relief.
The talks ended abruptly, with Trump leaving Vietnam early. In March, a top North Korean official suggested that Kim might quit the talks and restart nuclear and missile tests.
Kim's visit to Russia could strengthen relations that have fallen off in recent decades. Moscow maintained close ties with Pyongyang during the Soviet era, building dozens of factories and key infrastructure, sending supplies and providing weapons, according to the AP. But the relationship weakened after the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Experts said Wednesday's news out of North Korea was worrisome.
"Kim is trying to make a statement to the Trump Administration that his military potential is growing by the day, and that his regime is becoming frustrated with Washington’s lack of flexibility in recent negotiations," said Harry Kazianis, a North Korea expert with Center for the National Interest, a Washington-based foreign policy think tank.
"We are only one ICBM test away from another crisis with Pyongyang, and these smaller tests only bring us closer to such a moment,” he added, referring to the long-range missiles that could potentially reach the United States.
Some experts suggested that Wednesday's test involved a short-range missile, but details were sparse.
The KCNA report said Kim "mounted an observation post to learn about a plan of the test-fire of the new-type tactical guided weapon and guided the test-fire." The weapon has a "peculiar mode of guiding flight" and the load of "a powerful warhead" was verified at the test fire, the state-run outlet reported.
Contributing: David Jackson, USA TODAY; Associated Press
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: North Korea wants Pompeo out of talks; Kremlin announces an April visit by Kim Jong Un
