Donald Trump says CIA chief Mike Pompeo's meeting with Kim Jong-un 'went very smoothly'

CIA chief Mike Pompeo flew to the North Korean capital Pyongyang for secret talks with leader Kim Jong-un.

The visit raises hopes of a breakthrough in the tense stand-off between America and the rogue state over its nuclear weapons programme, which has sparked fears of military clashes on the Korean Peninsula.

President Trump today confirmed the meeting on Twitter having disclosed earlier that he had initiated “direct talks” with the North Korean regime.

As diplomacy gathered pace, South Korea today said that it was considering moves to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War by changing an armistice with North Korea into a peace agreement. Chinese President Xi Jinping was also reported to be planning to visit Pyongyang soon, although there was no official confirmation.

Mr Trump today said Mr Pompeo, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and his pick for Secretary of State, met Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang last week. Mr Trump today wrote on Twitter: “Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of Summit are being worked out now. Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!”

As diplomacy gathered pace, South Korea today said that it was considering how to change an armistice with North Korea into a peace agreement to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War. Chinese President Xi Jinping was also reported to be planning to visit Pyongyang soon, although there was no official confirmation.

Mr Pompeo, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Mr Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, flew to the North Korean capital a fortnight ago, according to Washington sources. He was reportedly accompanied by intelligence officials rather than anyone from Mr Trump’s circle.

The Washington Post claimed Mr Pompeo went as a presidential envoy to lay the groundwork for a meeting in late May or early June between Mr Trump and Kim to discuss Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme. If it goes ahead, it would be the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders of the two countries.

It would also be a remarkable thawing of tensions from the war of words which has seen Mr Trump nickname Kim “Little Rocket Man” and a “madman” in tweets last year, with the North Korean leader responding by calling him a “dotard”.

After enraging the West with a series of provocative missile tests last year, Kim now appears to be testing the diplomatic waters. He was set to meet South Korean president Moon Jae-in on Friday at the demilitarised zone between the countries. Mr Pompeo’s visit was also said to have been organised to assess how serious Kim is about defusing the crisis over his nuclear weapons programme, which has seen new sanctions imposed on his country. Mr Pompeo has not commented on his visit, which is said to have happened around April 1 and to have been arranged by South Korean intelligence chief Suh Hoon with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong Chol. The CIA boss flew north from a US Air Force base at Osan, south of Seoul, according to a South Korean defence source.

At a joint press conference with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe last night, Mr Trump dropped heavy hints about his plans to meet Kim. The president said that “very high levels” of talks were already under way between Washington and Pyongyang. “We have had direct talks,” he added, although the White House hastily declared that Mr Trump had not yet spoken with Kim.

“I really believe there is a lot of good will, lot of good things are happening,” added Mr Trump, who was at his Mar-a-Lago Florida retreat.

“Ultimately it’s the end result that counts, not the fact that we’re thinking about having a meeting, or having it.” The North Korean leader was said to be “personable and well-prepared” at the meeting with Mr Pompeo, although there remains a sticking point over the venue for the talks. Mr Trump said a number of locations were being considered. The Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar was one possible venue, along with the demilitarised zone, a neutral European capital such as Stockholm or Geneva, a location at sea like Jeju island or a ship. Singapore, Malaysia, Seoul and Pyongyang were also possibilities.

During his confirmation hearing last week, Mr Pompeo told the Senate foreign relations committee that “no one is under any illusions” that the planned summit will achieve a comprehensive agreement on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea and the North are still technically at war. A South Korean presidential official said ahead of Friday’s meeting: “As one of the plans, we are looking at... shifting the Korean peninsula’s armistice to a peace regime. I do not know if any joint statement to be reached at the inter-Korean summit would include wording about ending the war, but we hope to be able to include an agreement to end hostile acts.”