On June 22, Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joe Dunford, and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Ambassador John Bolton to discuss efforts to implement the results of the Singapore Summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim.https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1558403/press-statement-on-military-exercises-on-the-korean-peninsula/
To support implementing the outcomes of the Singapore Summit, and in coordination with our Republic of Korea ally, Secretary Mattis has indefinitely suspended select exercises. This includes suspending FREEDOM GUARDIAN along with two Korean Marine Exchange Program training exercises scheduled to occur in the next three months. In support of upcoming diplomatic negotiations led by Secretary Pompeo, additional decisions will depend upon the DPRK continuing to have productive negotiations in good faith.
QUESTION: What is he like, Mr. Secretary, when the cameras aren’t on and the door is closed? When you first went to Pyongyang, what was – what – does he have a sense of humor? Did he joke with you?https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2018/06/283452.htm
SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, he does have a sense of humor. He’s conversant in things Western, so he’s paying close attention to what takes place. I’m confident he’ll be watching this show. He’s watching things that Americans are saying. He’s looking to determine if, in fact, America is serious about this.
If he does this, if he takes this step and reorients, sets a new strategic direction for North Korea where they focus on the economy and their people as opposed to their war-making machine – if you make it that strategic change, does he have a reliable partner in America who will behave the way that President Trump committed that we would when they met in Singapore?
So he’s bright. He knows the file. He knows the topic very, very well. He’s not turning to others for guidance. It is Chairman Kim who was clearly articulating what you heard him say when he was in Singapore, that he is prepared to fully denuclearize.
QUESTION: Secretary Pompeo, when you sit down with someone like Chairman Kim or President Xi, you’re sitting down with people who have human rights records which are awful. But FDR sat down with Stalin, and Nixon with Mao, and President Reagan with Gorbachev. What’s in your mind when you’re going through with someone who you know the body count is high but with whom we have to deal?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, we know the histories. This administration has been very clear about defending human rights. Everywhere we go we talk about it, when we meet with countries that aren’t complying with human rights in the way we would want, that aren’t consistent with our value sets. We’ve done that with Chairman Kim. I know the President has spoken about that with Xi as well.
But you have to remember those human rights challenges existed long before this administration came in, when our policies with respect to those countries were very different; that is, previous efforts to improve on those human rights conditions had failed. We are confident that the biggest threat to the United States, Chairman Kim’s nuclear program, is the place we need to begin. And if we are successful, if we can get the outcome we hope to have, we think we create a greater probability that human rights conditions not only in North Korea but around the world may well improve.
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