Pompeo criticizes Kim, says North Korea strategy limited

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Nov. 17 that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is an “evil person” who believes the entire Korean Peninsula belongs to him.

Speaking at a forum hosted in Washington by the law firm DR & AJU, Pompeo said Kim believes North Korea has long been treated unfairly and is obsessed with finding a way to reclaim what he thinks the country has lost. He added that the goal of the first Trump administration was not to make Kim “a good person” but to compel him to abandon his nuclear weapons, a goal he said was not achieved. Pompeo served as secretary of state and director of the CIA during the first Trump administration and is regarded as a central figure who led U.S.-North Korea negotiations, including four trips to the North.

Explaining why the negotiations failed, he argued that every time Kim met with President Trump or with him, the process always began in Beijing. He said the true counterpart in the talks was not Kim but Chinese President Xi Jinping. He added that North Korea’s nuclear weapons program should be seen not as a solely North Korean issue but as a strategy shared by both Kim and Xi. Pompeo said Kim has little independent decision-making authority and that the issue must ultimately be resolved with China, not North Korea.

On the reduced interest in U.S.-North Korea negotiations after the start of the second Trump administration, Pompeo said there is almost no room to maneuver on North Korea policy and that there are virtually no incentives that could persuade Kim to give up his nuclear weapons. He added that there are also few punitive tools that can be used against North Korea and that there are not many levers capable of changing the situation.

Pompeo said the second Trump administration also appears to have concluded that there is little flexibility on North Korea policy. He added that the likelihood of President Trump formally recognizing North Korea as a nuclear-armed state is extremely low.

Pompeo also said he found it highly encouraging and surprising that the United States pledged during last month’s U.S.-South Korea summit to begin formal procedures supporting South Korea’s development of nuclear powered submarines. However, he noted that for now it remains only a high-level declaration and that few details have been worked out.

Asked whether South Korea needs nuclear powered submarines, he said yes and explained that Kim has nuclear capabilities and that South Koreans must be sufficiently protected against that threat. He added that further discussion and detailed review are necessary, but said it is entirely possible for the plan to gain bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress.


Jin-Woo Shin niceshin@donga.com