NEW YORK — Top U.S. diplomat Mike Pompeo said Sunday that economic sanctions on North Korea won't be reduced until it completes "denuclearization" after leader Kim Jong Un offered to close the country's main nuclear site in exchange for U.S. concessions.
Kim said last week at a summit with South Korea's president that he was willing to dismantle the Nyongbyon nuclear complex in the presence of outside inspectors if the U.S. takes unspecified "corresponding measures." He also promised to dismantle the North's main rocket launch site.
That has helped revive United States-North Korea diplomacy that had failed to make headway since President Donald Trump met Kim in Singapore in June and won a vague commitment on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. But U.S. administration officials have yet to signal a readiness to provide the kind of incentives that Pyongyang wants.
Pompeo also wouldn't be drawn on whether the U.S would consider a declaration on ending the Korean War that the North has sought as a sign of reduced U.S. "hostility." The war ceased without a peace treaty in 1953.
"What we've made clear is the economic sanctions — the driving force to achieve the outcome we're looking for — will not be released," Pompeo said. "And the U.N. Security Council will not reduce those sanctions until such time as we've achieved that final denuclearization."
North Korea is suspected to have secret sites linked to its nuclear weapons program in addition to the plutonium and uranium production facilities at Nyongbyon.
While North Korea has halted nuclear and missile tests since late last year, it hasn't moved to abandon its nuclear arsenal of an estimated 40 to 60 bombs.