NEW YORK, United States — 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 North’s main nuclear site in exchange for U.S. concessions. Pompeo has invited his North Korean counterpart for a meeting on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. this week. There are multiple sites in North Korea, and we need to have inspectors in all multiple sites if that’s going to happen,” she said. 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.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 23, 2018 23:26 UTC