Next steps for US-North Korea talks - Reuters

As reported by Reuters, the recent Trump-Kim summit was heavy on promises but light on specific details, and the path forward for developments between the two countries remains unclear.

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"Speaking in Seoul, Pompeo said he expected the United States and North Korea to resume contacts within the next week or so. “I would anticipate it will be fairly quickly after we return to our home countries,” he said. “I don’t know exactly what form that will take, but I’m very confident that by some time in the next week or so we will begin the engagement.” Pompeo also sought to blunt criticism that Trump gave away too much - including even holding the meeting with the North Korea leader and making a promise to end U.S.-South Korean military exercises - in return for too little. Pompeo said the two sides reached “understandings” on many issues that were not captured in the leaders’ statement.

Pompeo, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton “and/or the entire team” will get together next week to go over details “and to get this stuff done,” Trump said on Tuesday. Trump said verification would be achieved only by “having a lot of people” in North Korea but provided no details on how the United States might confirm Pyongyang was keeping its word.

At their first summit in April, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un pledged to take a number of steps to promote Korean reconciliation. In the coming days, officials from North and South Korea will meet for working-level talks to discuss some of those steps, including military hotlines, family reunions of Koreans divided since the Korean War and sports exchanges. “The problem with inter-Korean reconciliation projects is that sanctions will not be lifted if there’s no implementation of denuclearization,” said Shin Beomchul, senior fellow at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies think tank. “Hence, the important thing next for inter-Korean relations would be the speed that sanctions are lifted.”

Trump also said he looked forward to visiting Pyongyang, and that he had invited Kim to the White House, with both visits to occur “at the appropriate time.” “He has accepted. I said, at the appropriate time. We want to go a little bit further down the road,” Trump said. The White House declined to elaborate on Trump’s comments about the timing. One opportunity for Kim to visit might come in September for the annual U.N. General Assembly gathering of world leaders in New York."