U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went to Pyongyang to get Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons. He left with a harsh reminder that the North Korean leader expects something in return.
While President Donald Trump's point man for nuclear talks summed up his 27 hours in the North Korean capital as "productive," the regime called the visit "regretful." No sooner had Pompeo left when Kim's media published a statement saying Washington's "unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization" risked upending ties less than a month after Trump and Kim shook hands in Singapore.
The next line of the more than 1,200-word statement may have captured the central complaint: "The U.S. side never mentioned the issue of establishing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, which is essential for defusing tension and preventing a war," an unidentified foreign ministry spokesman said.