South Korea Tells Pompeo North Korea Trip Delay Is ‘Regrettable’

(Bloomberg) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a phone call that the delay to his expected visit to North Korea was “regrettable.”

“Secretary of State Pompeo explained in detail the background of delaying this trip to North Korea,” according to a South Korean foreign ministry statement released Saturday. “Minister Kang said that the international society had many expectations for Secretary of State Pompeo’s visit to North Korea, and that she felt the delay was regrettable.”

South Korea’s statement comes hours after an abrupt reversal of a scheduled trip announced on twitter by President Donald Trump, who cited a lack of “sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” adding the visit will come most likely after America’s “trading relationship with China is resolved.”

Kang and Pompeo agreed the two countries will continue to closely cooperate to keep a “momentum on dialog,” and to pursue denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula, according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stanley James at sjames8@bloomberg.net, John McCluskey

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