US-North Korea Pompeo in Pyongyang to finalize summit, seek Americans’ release

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to North Korea yesterday to finalize plans for a historic summit between President Donald Trump and the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un.

U.S. officials said Pompeo will also press North Korea for the release of three detained American citizens, whose imminent release Trump has been hinting at.

Pompeo discussed the agenda for a potential summit in a meeting with Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the central committee of North Korea’s ruling party.

Later, at a lunch of poached fish and duck hosted by Kim Yong Chol, Pompeo said the senior official had been a great partner in working to make the summit a success.

“For decades, we have been adversaries. Now we are hopeful that we can work together to resolve this conflict,” Pompeo said, adding that “there are many challenges along the way.”

Kim noted the improved relations between the Koreas, as well as the North’s policy to “concentrate all efforts into economic progress” in the country.

“This is not a result of sanctions that have been imposed from outside,” he added, citing the will of the Korean people. Trump has said that his pressure tactics brought North Korea to the negotiating table.

The trip, Pompeo’s second to North Korea this year, had not been publicly disclosed when he flew out of Washington under cover of darkness late Monday aboard an Air Force 757. Trump announced the mission Tuesday afternoon as he laid out the case for withdrawing from a landmark nuclear deal with Iran, another bitter U.S. adversary.

Minutes later, Pompeo arrived in Japan to refuel before flying on to Pyongyang. Accompanying him were a handful of senior aides, a security detail and two journalists — one from The Associated Press and one from The Washington Post, both given roughly four hours’ notice of his departure.

When the flight arrived yesterday morning in Pyongyang, North Korean officials were on hand to greet Pompeo. A motorcade took Pompeo and his delegation to the Koryo Hotel, the main hotel for foreigners in Pyongyang.

The trip came just days after North Korea expressed displeasure with Washington for comments suggesting that massive U.S. pressure had pushed Kim Jong Un to the negotiating table.

Pompeo, who first traveled to North Korea as CIA chief in early April, is only the second sitting secretary of state to visit the reclusive nation with which the U.S. is still technically at war. The first was Madeleine Albright, who went in 2000 as part of an unsuccessful bid to arrange a meeting between then-
President Bill Clinton and Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il.

“Plans are being made, relationships are building, hopefully a deal will happen and with the help of China, South Korea and Japan a future of great prosperity and security can be achieved for everyone,” Trump said at the White House as he announced Pompeo’s visit.

Pompeo’s first trip to Pyongyang, over Easter weekend before he was confirmed as secretary of state, was a closely held secret. News of it did not emerge until just before his Senate confirmation vote less than two weeks ago. Shortly afterward, the White House released photographs of Pompeo and Kim. It was not clear whether Kim would meet Pompeo on this trip. AP

Analysis

Kim breaks with his flight-phobic father, travels by plane

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (center) arrives at an airport in Dalian, China this week

Hyung-Jin Kim, Seoul

U

nlike his dictator father, who famously shunned air travel, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un jetted off to the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian this week, becoming the first North Korean ruler to fly abroad in 32 years.

Since taking office in late 2011, Kim has occasionally flown inside North Korea. The recent foreign trip, albeit not far from the North Korean border, comes ahead of his expected summit with U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at ending the North Korean nuclear problem.

Was Kim trying to test his jet’s flight capacity because his summit with Trump could happen in Singapore? Did he simply want to show that he’s different from his flight-averse father? Or perhaps he had urgent matters to discuss with Chinese President Xi Jinping that precluded the time-consuming train he took in March to Beijing to meet Xi.

Here are several things to know about the Kim family’s travel habits:

THE GOSHAWK

Kim’s official plane is a remodeled version of the Soviet-made IL-62. North Korea calls it “Chammae-1,” named after the goshawk, North Korea’s national bird.

South Korean media say the plane can fly at a maximum speed of 900 kilometers per hour and carry about 200 people. Its maximum flight range is about 9,200 kilometers but it has reportedly never flown that far.

Some experts say one reason why North Korea apparently wants to have a Kim-Trump summit in Pyongyang, the North’s capital, is that Kim’s plane might not be able to fly to faraway places like Switzerland, Sweden or Washington.

Kim’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, used “Chammae-2,” the same kind of aircraft as her brother’s, when she visited South Korea in February to attend the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. She became the first member of North Korea’s ruling Kim family to visit South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

PREVIOUS AIR TRAVEL

Schooled for several years in Switzerland, Kim is believed to have traveled by air many times during his teenage years.

After he became North Korea’s leader, state media said he was aboard Chammae-1 when he reviewed air force planes taking part in combat aeronautics contests and inspected construction work in Pyongyang. North Korean media photos also showed Kim looking out the windows of his plane; walking down the stairs from the plane, and walking with his wife, Ri Sol Ju, on a red carpet placed on an airstrip.

Other photos showed Kim in the cockpit of a fighter jet.

DIFFERENT FROM HIS FATHER

Before Kim’s Dalian trip, no North Korean leader had publicly gone abroad by air since Kim’s grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, flew to the Soviet Union in 1986.

Kim Jong Il flew by plane to a conference in Indonesia with Kim Il Sung, his father, in 1965. But after that he reportedly never flew because of a fear of heights. During his 1994-2011 rule, Kim Jong Il made about a dozen known overseas trips, mostly to China, and conducted countless inspections of military posts, factories and other places — all by train.

Analysts say Kim Jong Un’s air travel may be aimed at showing he’s a confident, normal leader who meets international standards.

South Korean media say Kim Jong Il had several luxurious trains equipped with reception halls, conference rooms and high-tech communication facilities. To guard against possible attacks, his train reportedly traveled with two other trains, with one running ahead of his to check the safety of the rail line while another carried security agents and followed behind. According to state media, Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack during a train trip.

When Kim Jong Un visited Beijing, which is much farther than Dalian, in March for talks with Xi in his first overseas trip since his inauguration, he took a deep green special train reminiscent of his father’s. Last month, he took a black Mercedes limousine to return home after a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a village along the Koreas’ border. AP