MIKE POMPEO/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday [6-13-18] that the U.S. hopes to achieve ‘major disarmament’ of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal during President Donald Trump’s first term in office and would resume joint military exercises with South Korea if the talks stall. ‘We’re hopeful that we can achieve that in the 21/2 years,’ he told reporters. Mr. Pompeo, who arrived in Seoul to confer with senior South Korean and Japanese officials, also bristled at criticism that the summit declaration signed by Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim was vague and had failed to secure an explicit commitment from Pyongyang to intrusive verification. The promise by North Korea to work toward ‘complete denuclearization’ of the Korean Peninsula, Mr. Pompeo said, was tantamount to a commitment by Pyongyang to accept that the elimination of its nuclear weapons and forces must be irreversible and verifiable, although those words aren’t in the joint statement.”
-Michael R. Gordon and Daniel Nasaw, “U.S. Seeks ‘Major Disarmament’ of North Korea During Trump’s Term,” The Wall Street Journal, June 13, 2018 6:30 pm