North Korea has promised to shut its atomic test site within
weeks and invite American weapons experts to verify its closure, Seoul
reported Sunday, as new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said
Washington had an "obligation" to pursue peace.
North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un — who may meet US President Donald Trump as
early as next month — also said Pyongyang would have no need for nuclear
weapons if it were promised it would not be invaded, according to
Seoul.
Friday's historic meeting saw Kim and South
Korean President Moon Jae-in agree to pursue the complete
denuclearisation of the peninsula.
The summit
Washington's
new chief diplomat said he and President Kim held in-depth talks about a
denuclearisation "mechanism" when they met over Easter.
"We
talked a great deal about what it might look like, what this complete,
verifiable, irreversible mechanism might look like," Mr Pompeo said.
"We
have an obligation to engage in diplomatic discourse to try and find a
peaceful solution so that Americans aren't held at risk by Kim Jong Un
and his nuclear arsenal," Mr Pompeo told ABC, saying there is a "real
opportunity" for progress.
He was speaking as the Blue
House in Seoul reported President Kim told President Moon during the
summit he would close the North's nuclear test site in May.
President
Kim also said he "would soon invite experts of South Korea and the US
as well as journalists to disclose the process to the international
community with transparency", Seoul's presidential spokesman Yoon
Young-chan added.
Tensions spiked last year over the
North's testing of atomic weapons and long-range missiles, including
some capable of reaching the US mainland.
"Kim said
'the US feels repelled by us, but once we talk, they will realise that I
am not a person who will fire a nuclear weapon to the South or the US
or target the US'," according to Mr Yoon.
The North
Korean leader reported added: "If we meet often (with the US), build
trust, end the war and eventually are promised no invasion, why would we
live with the nuclear weapons?"
President Kim also
slammed speculation that the North's Punggye-ri nuclear test site was
already unusable after an underground tunnel there reportedly collapsed.
A sweetener
"As
they will see once they visit, there are two more tunnels (at the test
site) that are even bigger... and they are in good condition," he was
quoted as saying.
The remarks are likely to be seen as a
sweetener ahead of Trump's eagerly-awaited summit with Kim, which the
US president said would take place "in the next three or four weeks".
President
Trump touted his ability to achieve a nuclear deal with the regime at a
campaign-style rally in Michigan to cheers and chants of "Nobel!
Nobel!"
The US leader has been eager to play up his
role in achieving a breakthrough with Pyongyang through his "maximum
pressure" campaign involving tough rhetoric, stronger sanctions and
diplomatic efforts to further isolate the regime.
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