MIKE PENCE/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/SUMMIT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will focus on creating a ‘verifiable plan’ for North Korea’s denuclearization, Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday [11-15-18], but an accounting of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and testing sites will not be a prerequisite for the meeting. In an interview with NBC News, Pence argued that the Trump administration has made ‘tremendous progress’ in denuclearization talks, despite a new report that showed North Korea may still be developing more than a dozen missile testing sites and the recent cancellation of a meeting between the countries’ top diplomats. The U.S. has pushed North Korea for an inventory of its weapons stockpile as well as a list of its ballistic missile testing sites, requests Pyongyang has resisted, asking first for sanctions relief, something Pence said would not happen until total denuclearization is achieved…Negotiations between the two countries, while apparently ongoing, have hit a rough patch over the timing of sanctions relief, with North Korea asking for concessions from the U.S. in return for its initial steps to dismantle its nuclear programs.”
–Caitlin Opryskp, “Pence says second Trump-Kim summit will focus on creating ‘verifiable’ denuclearization plan,” Politico, November 15, 2018 8:03 am