{ "error": "", "type": "text", "title": "Interview With Jonathan Karl of ABC's This Week - North Korea", "slug": "interview-with-jonathan-karl-of-abcs-this-week-north-korea", "text": "
\"QUESTION:<\/strong> So let\u2019s start with North Korea. What have we learned about what exactly \u2013 what kind of projectiles the North Koreans were testing?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> So we know a couple things. One, there \u2013 at no point was there ever any international boundary crossed. That is, they landed in the water east of North Korea and didn\u2019t present a threat to the United States or to South Korea or Japan. And we know that they were relatively short range. And beyond that \u2013 we know they weren\u2019t intercontinental ballistic missiles either. And beyond that, I\u2019ll leave the Department of Defense to characterize this when further information arrives.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> So you\u2019re one of the precious few Americans that has actually spent time with Kim Jong-un. You arguably know him better than any other American. What\u2019s your read on this? What kind of message was he sending with this \u2013 these tests?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Well, Jonathan, we still believe that there is an opportunity to get a negotiated outcome where we get fully verified denuclearization. Chairman Kim has repeated that. He has repeated that quite recently, in fact. And so we hope that this act that he took over the weekend won\u2019t get in the way. We want to get back at the table. We want to continue to have these conversations.<\/p>\n The sanctions, the global sanctions put in place by the UN Security Council, they\u2019re still in place. And so the pressure on Chairman Kim to continue down this path to achieve the outcome that everyone wants \u2013 you have to remember these took place \u2013 this attempt took place \u2013 or the \u2013 excuse me, these launches took place just after he met with Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> And so clearly, Chairman Kim has not yet been able to get precisely what he wanted, but we hope that we can get back to the table and find the path forward. We\u2019re further along than we were a year ago, and we hope we can continue to make progress.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> Kim\u2019s clearly frustrated by the fact that he hasn\u2019t gotten anything back yet from the United States. As you mentioned, the sanctions are still in place, and he\u2019s now set this deadline of the end of the year to \u2013 basically for the U.S. to show flexibility. Do you take that deadline seriously?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Look, this is a serious situation for sure, and we\u2019ve known that the path to fully verified denuclearization would be a bumpy and long one. As for the deadline, we want to get back and begin to have these conversations. I don\u2019t know that there\u2019s anything particularly significant about his statement at the end of the year. We\u2019re watching closely the North Korean behavior, as are our allies Japan and South Korea and the region. We still believe there is a path forward.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> It was reported after the Hanoi summit that the President had reached out to Kim, there had been communications to the North Koreans. Have we heard anything back? Has the President heard back anything from Chairman Kim?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> I don\u2019t want to get to the exact nature of the communications that took place, but yes, we have communicated with the North Koreans post-Hanoi, and we hope that they can become \u2013 in the coming weeks, become even more robust communications where we can really have conversations about how the path will move forward.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> So you have heard back, though?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Oh, yes.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> So the President had this response on Twitter to the tests. It was a little different in tone than yours. He said: \u201cI believe [that] Kim Jong-un fully realizes the great economic potential of North Korea, and will do nothing to interfere or end it. He also knows that I am with him and does not want to break his promise to me. Deal will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Why is the President so optimistic about getting a deal with Kim Jong-un?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Jonathan, that doesn\u2019t sound any different from when I would sit here this morning. I too believe that there is a path forward that we can achieve this outcome.<\/p>\n Look, there was a UN report that came out on Friday, 50 percent of the North Korean population at risk of significant malnutrition. That is, it\u2019s a very difficult set of conditions there. We want a brighter future. That\u2019s why the President continued talks about this. It\u2019s important. They need to understand that if these nuclear weapons go away, it will be of an enormous benefit to their country, and keeping them just continues to pose risk.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> You mentioned the famine. Is the U.S. considering any steps to maybe lift sanctions to get humanitarian support in, anything to deal with that famine, which is supposed to be the worst in a long, long time?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> So you\u2019ll recall, Jonathan, that there \u2013 it\u2019s permissible for humanitarian assistance; that is, that sanctions permit the North Koreans to purchase food products. It\u2019s why, when I see things like happened on Friday night, where the money could have gone to taking care of his own people, it\u2019s so unfortunate.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> There were reports out of the region that after the Hanoi summit, several of the people that you were negotiating with that were part of that negotiating team in Hanoi were executed. Do we believe those reports are accurate?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Jonathan, I don\u2019t have anything to add to that for you this morning.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> But there seems to have been some kind of a shakeup of his team over there.<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> It does appear that the next time we have serious conversations that my counterpart will be someone else, but we don\u2019t know that for sure. Just as President Trump gets to decide who his negotiators will be, Chairman Kim will get to make his own decisions about who we ask to have these conversations.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> I want to play you something that Cindy Warmbier had to say. She is, obviously, the mother of Otto Warmbier, who died after being imprisoned in North Korea. She made an emotional appeal to keep up the pressure. Take a listen:<\/p>\n \u201cMS WARMBIER:<\/strong> North Korea to me is a cancer on the earth. There is a charade going on right now. It\u2019s called diplomacy. How can you have diplomacy with someone that never tells the truth?\u201d<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> So from everything that you have observed here, I mean, do you really think that Kim Jong-un is negotiating in good faith?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Well, first of all, I\u2019ve come to know the Warmbier family, and Cindy in particular is an American warrior. She\u2019s a noble, wonderful, gracious woman. And so the tone in her voice, the sound in her voice, I have enormous sympathy for.<\/p>\n Make no mistake, the United States continues to apply pressure. The UN sanctions continue to be enforced. We\u2019re expending a lot of energy to do that. We think it\u2019s simply important that we play out every diplomatic opportunity, every opportunity we have to have these nuclear weapons depart, and verify that without the use of force. We think every effort ought to be made in that, and we continue to work towards that.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> But go back to the President\u2019s tweet responding to these tests. The line that stuck out to me was he says, \u201cI\u2019m with him.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m with him.\u201d That\u2019s what he\u2019s saying about Kim Jong-un. You\u2019ve just heard what Cindy Warmbier had to say about Kim Jong-un, who is one of the most brutal dictators in the world.<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> This is a president --<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> How does the President say, \u201cI\u2019m with him\u201d?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> This is a president who has put on the toughest sanctions in the history of the world against North Korea. The President understands the challenges. The President deeply understands this. And we are working towards finding a path forward with Chairman Kim to denuclearize this country diplomatically.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll recall in the beginning of the administration where the President spoke about fire and fury. We understand all the challenges, we know who the North Koreans are, and we\u2019re working to see if there is a possibility. Before we go another direction, we want to see if there\u2019s any possibility we can achieve this outcome. It\u2019s very straightforward.\"<\/p>",
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