Washington, Aug 24 (EFE).- US President Donald Trump said Friday that he has called off Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s trip to North Korea that had been scheduled for next week, on grounds that insufficient progress is being made in negotiations between the two countries.
“I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to go to North Korea, at this time, because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Trump said on Twitter.
This Thursday Pompeo himself used the presentation of the new UN special envoy to North Korea to announce his intention to travel to the Asian nation next week.
In a second tweet, Trump nonetheless said that Pompeo “looks forward to going to North Korea in the near future,” than sent his “warmest regards and respect” to the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.
“I look forward to seeing him soon!” the US president said.
Pompeo announced Thursday he was about to make his fourth trip to North Korea since last April, after introducing the new US special representative to North Korea, Steve Biegun, who was to accompany him on the visit.
Hours later, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert reported “there were no plans for a meeting” between Pompeo and Kim Jong-un on this occasion, as there had been on previous trips.
In addition, Nauert denied that Washington was irritated by the lack of progress following the summit of Trump and Kim at Singapore last June 12, and said that next week’s visit by the secretary state would have served to continue the normalization of bilateral relations.