Bad agreement with N Korea not an option: Pompeo

Washington, May 3: Newly sworn-in US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday warned that a bad agreement with North Korea is not an option and promised that the President Donald Trump administration will not make the same mistakes as past presidents in dealing with Pyongyang.

The former CIA Director emphasized that “we are but 15 months in this administration and we have already made outstanding progress by speaking the truth about the challenges we face, by confronting them head on, but partnering with strong nations to make America and the world more prosperous and secure”. He said that US efforts to achieve — via diplomacy — the full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula were still “in the beginning stages” and it is not yet certain whether those efforts will bear fruit. Trump did not refer to North Korea or to the Iran nuclear agreement, a pact that Pompeo also did not mention despite expectations about the possibility that the US will withdraw from the accord before May 12. (IANS)