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Kim Jong Un: 'No more nukes for our children'

Posted February. 25, 2019 07:48,   

Updated February. 25, 2019 07:48

한국어

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un spoked to U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo, who visited Pyongyang last April, that he does not want his children to live in the ear of nukes, according to former head of the CIA's Korea Mission Center Andrew Kim on Friday.

Kim addressed Stanford University on the day, looking back onto the conversation between Pompeo and Kim. When asked if he is determined to achieve denuclearization, Kim answered that he is also a father as well as a husband.

As he accompanied Pompeo on his visit to North Korea, Andrew Kim served as a key person in the behind-the-scenes negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang by the latter half of last year. Since retiring late last year, he has worked as a visiting researcher at Stanford. It is the first time for him to have a mentioning of North Korea on an official occasion.

It is thought that the former intelligence officer's remarks intend to calm pessimistic views of the upcoming second U.S.-North summit and call Pyongyang to show nuclear determination.

Andrew Kim said on a positive note that the second meeting in Hanoi would end up with more productive results than the first one. Washington and Pyongyang only fixated on trust-building and denuclearization, respectively during the first summit talk, but both sides are currently in greater communication than they were during the last meeting, he said. The two countries have engaged in more frequent communication and North Korea has become quicker at responding, he emphasized.


rocku@donga.com