After talks, N. Korea accuses US of 'gangster-like' demands

Pompeo said he had won commitments for new discussions on denuclearization and announced a Thursday meeting between US and North Korean military officials on the repatriation of the remains. But in a harsh response issued just hours after Pompeo arrived in Tokyo, the North blasted the discussions, saying the visit had been "regrettable" and that Washington's "gangster-like" demands were aimed at forcing it to abandon nuclear weapons.

In a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, the foreign ministry said the outcome of Pompeo's talks with senior official Kim Yong-chol was "very concerning" because it has led to a "dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm."

"We had expected that the US side would offer constructive measures that would help build trust based on the spirit of the leaders' summit ... we were also thinking about providing reciprocal measures," it said. "However, the attitude and stance the United States showed in the first high-level meeting (between the countries) was no doubt regrettable. Our expectations and hopes were so naive it could be called foolish."

It said the North had raised the issue of formally ending the Korean War, which concluded with an armistice and not a peace treaty, but the US came up with a variety of "conditions and excuses" to delay a declaration. It downplayed the significance of the United States suspending its military exercises with South Korea, something trumpeted by Trump after the summit as a success, by saying it made a larger concession by blowing up the tunnels at a nuclear test site.

In criticizing the talks with Pompeo, however, it carefully avoided attacking Trump personally, saying "we wholly maintain our trust toward President Trump," but stressed that Washington must not allow "headwinds" against the "wills of the leaders." That appeared to be a reference to Trump's national security adviser John Bolton, a prominent North Korea hawk who has been vilified by Pyongyang in the past. Pompeo spoke with Trump, Bolton and White House chief of staff John Kelly on Saturday before his second round of meetings with Kim Yong-chol.

The North's statement, coming so soon after Pompeo's trip, was sure to fuel growing skepticism in the US over how serious Kim Jong-un is about giving up his nuclear arsenal.

A former top US diplomat for Asia, Daniel Russel, said the setback was to be expected and warned Trump he is engaged in a long negotiation that would not produce easy quick, made for television results that the president likely wants.

"Dealing with North Korea is hard because Kim Jong-un wants it to be hard," said Russel, who was assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Obama administration. "If you make the Americans fight for every inch, the Americans will start measuring progress in inches _ and will wind up paying by the inch. At this point, even to get the North Koreans to follow through with the return of Korean War-era MIA remains, would feel like a big win for Pompeo, even though it wouldn't affect the nuclear threat."

"Kim can afford to play hardball because it's clear to him that Trump, who has already told Americans they can sleep soundly because the threat is now over, badly wants a deal," Russel said. "And when you want it bad, you get it bad. Why should the North Koreans make concessions to one of Trump's aides given the president's record of undercutting them?"

In his comments to reporters before leaving Pyongyang, Pompeo said he and Kim Yong-chol had made "a great deal of progress" in some areas. He stressed that "there's still more work to be done" in others, which will be handled by the working groups.

He said North Korea said it offered to discuss the closure of a missile engine test site, which would "physically affirm" a move to halt the production of intercontinental range ballistic missiles, that the two sides had agreed that a Pentagon team would meet North Korean officials on or about Thursday at the border between North and South Korea to discuss the repatriation of remains.

However, in the days following the June 12 summit with Kim Jong-un in Singapore, Trump had already announced the return of the remains and the destruction of the missile facility had been completed or were in progress.

Pompeo said more talks were needed on both. (AP)