AP, Bangkok :
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday he’s very hopeful for a quick resumption in nuclear talks with North Korea despite the North’s recent weapons tests that have clouded already uncertain prospects for a return to the table.
Pompeo told reporters accompanying him to an Asian security conference in Thailand that some preliminary work on a new round of talks has been done but no dates have been set. He said he’s waiting to see if North Korea’s foreign minister comes to Bangkok for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum and is confident they will meet if he does. The State Department says the lead U.S. negotiator, Stephen Biegun, will be in Bangkok for North Korea-related discussions but has not released his schedule.
“We think they’ll be started before too long,” Pompeo said. “I’m very hopeful.”
Talks have been stalled since President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s summit in February in Hanoi that broke up over disagreements about sanctions relief and what actions the North would have to take in exchange. But they agreed to restart the talks when they met at the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas in June. At the time, U.S. officials spoke of the negotiations resuming in a matter of a few weeks.
“It’s taken a little bit longer than that,” Pompeo said. “There’s been a little bit of preliminary work to be done.
