SEOUL: North Korea has promised to shut its atomic test site within weeks and invite American weapons experts to verify its closure, Seoul reported on Sunday, as new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington had an “obligation” to pursue peace. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — who may meet US President Donald Trump as early as next month — also said Pyongyang would have no need for nuclear weapons if it were promised it would not be invaded, according to Seoul. Last Friday’s historic meeting saw Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agree to pursue the complete denuclearisation of the peninsula.
Washington’s new chief diplomat said he and Kim held in-depth talks about a denuclearisation “mechanism” when they met over Easter. “We talked a great deal about what it might look like, what this complete, verifiable, irreversible mechanism might look like,” Pompeo said. “We have an obligation to engage in diplomatic discourse to try and find a peaceful solution so that Americans aren’t held at risk by Kim Jong Un and his nuclear arsenal,” Pompeo told ABC, saying there is a “real opportunity” for progress. He was speaking as the Blue House in Seoul reported Kim told Moon during the summit he would close the North’s nuclear test site in May.
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