Comments by the top U.S. diplomat Sunday that the main objective of talks with North Korea next month is to eliminate the isolated country's long-range nuclear missile capabilities are likely to raise eyebrows in Tokyo as Japan hustles to avoid being shut out of the diplomatic process.
Asked on "Fox News Sunday" about the possibility of the U.S. offering a security guarantee to the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as part of any possible deal to rid it of its nuclear weapons program, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington will "have to see how the negotiations proceed" but appeared to focus solely on the threat to the United States.
"Make no mistake about it: America's interest here is preventing the risk that North Korea will launch a nuclear weapon into L.A. or Denver or into the very place we're sitting here this morning," Pompeo said from Washington.