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Pompeo: Trump Offered To ‘Alter’ The Armistice If North Korea Denuclearized

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Ryan Pickrell China/Asia Pacific Reporter
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President Donald Trump offered to “alter the armistice agreement” that ended Korean War hostilities in exchange for North Korean denuclearization, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday.

The secretary of state insisted that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is serious about denuclearization, explaining that “he has made very clear his commitment to fully denuclearize his country.” In return for complete denuclearization, Trump “committed to making sure that we alter the armistice agreement to provide the security assurances that Chairman Kim needs,” Pompeo said during a Q&A following an address at the Detroit Economic Club in Michigan.

It is unclear what alterations the administration intends to make to the armistice agreement, which brought Korean War fighting to a close without actually ending the war. North Korea has long desired a peace treaty, which was a topic of discussion during the landmark inter-Korean summit in late April. Kim and his South Korean counterpart agreed to establish “a permanent and solid peace regime on the Korean Peninsula,” expressing a need to bring “an end to the current unnatural state of armistice and establishing a robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.”

Pompeo’s comments come about a week after a historic summit in Singapore, where Trump met Kim for the first time. The two leaders signed a joint agreement at the conclusion of the summit, with both sides agreeing to pursue peace and improved bilateral relations between the U.S. and North Korea. (RELATED: Here’s What Trump, Kim Jong Un Agreed Upon At Summit)

The agreement was limited in substance, leading the president to suggest that more negotiations will need to take place going forward.

“There’s a lot of work between here and there. My team is already doing it. I’ll likely travel back before too terribly long,” Pompeo said. “We still need to flesh out all the things that underlay the commitments that were made that day in Singapore.” (RELATED: CIA Director Mike Pompeo Secretly Met With Kim Jong Un)

Pompeo has already made two trips to North Korea, the first occurring in mid-April and the second happening in early May. Both trips were intended to lay the groundwork for the Singapore summit.

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