Pompeo says US ready right now to resume talks with NKorea

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Pompeo says US ready right now to resume talks with NKorea

2019-06-24 05:57 Last Updated At：06:10

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday the U.S. was prepared to resume talks with North Korea "at a moment's notice" if the North signaled it wanted discussions about denuclearization.

Pompeo said he hoped that a letter recently sent by President Donald Trump to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would "provide a good foundation for us to begin to continue these important discussions with the North Koreans to denuclearize the peninsula."

The North's state-run news agency on Sunday described Trump's letter to Kim as "excellent" and reported that Kim said he would "seriously contemplate" the content. What was in the letter was not revealed by U.S. or North Korean officials. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has said the two leaders have had an ongoing correspondence.

The U.S. has demanded that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons entirely before international sanctions are lifted. For its part, North Korea wants sanctions to be lifted and other concessions by the U.S. as it moves step by step toward denuclearization.

The second Trump-Kim summit, held last February in Hanoi, ended in failure and formal talks between the two nations broke down. Trump said in June he had received a "beautiful" letter from Kim, not revealing its contents, and recently said had received a "birthday letter" from the North Korean.

Pompeo, who spoke to reporters before leaving Washington for the Mideast, said he hoped working-level talks with North Korea would resume.

"We have been working to lay the foundations for that since Hanoi. We think we're in a better place. I think the remarks you saw out of North Korea this morning suggest that, that may well be a very real possibility.

Pompeo added: "We're ready to go. We're literally prepared to begin at a moment's notice if the North Koreans indicate that they're prepared for those discussions."

Blinken, in Shanghai, begins expected contentious talks with Chinese officials

2024-04-25 11:27 Last Updated At：11:30

SHANGHAI (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken opened his first full day of meetings in China on Thursday by talking with local government officials in Shanghai.

Blinken discussed local and regional issues with Chen Jining, the Chinese Communist Party Secretary of Shanghai. He also planned to speak to students and business leaders before flying to Beijing for what are expected to be contentious talks with national officials, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Blinken arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday shortly before President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion foreign aid package that has several elements likely to anger the Chinese, including $8 billion to counter China’s growing aggressiveness toward Taiwan and in the South China Sea. It also seeks to force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform.

China has railed against U.S. assistance to Taiwan, the self-governing island that it regards as a renegade province, and immediately condemned the move as a dangerous provocation. It also strongly opposes efforts to force TikTok’s sale.

Still, the fact that Blinken made the trip — shortly after a conversation between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, a similar visit to China by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and a call between the U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs — is a sign the two sides are at least willing to discuss their differences.

“I think it’s important to underscore the value — in fact, the necessity — of direct engagement, of speaking to each other, laying out our differences, which are real, seeking to work through them,” Blinken told Chen.

“We have an obligation for our people, indeed an obligation to the world, to manage the relationship between our two countries responsibly,” he said. “That is the obligation we have, and one that we take very seriously.”

Chen agreed with that sentiment and said the recent Biden-Xi call had helped the “stable and healthy development of our two countries’ relationship.”

“Whether we choose cooperation or confrontation affects the well-being of both peoples, both countries, and the future of humanity” he said.

Chen added that he hoped Blinken was able to get a “deep impression and understanding” of Shanghai.

Shortly after arriving, Blinken attended a Chinese basketball playoff game between the local Shanghai Sharks and the Zhejiang Golden Bulls, with the home team losing in the last seconds in 121-120 nailbiter.