Inside Pompeo's Fraught North Korea Trip

  • Secretary of state struggled for clarity on visit’s schedule
  • Regime issued harsh statement after Pompeo left country
Pompeo brushed off a North Korean statement that cast doubt on the outlook for talks. Bloomberg’s Ros Krasny reports.(Source: Bloomberg)
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As U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo touched down in Pyongyang at 10:54 a.m. on Friday he had few details of his schedule in the North Korean capital -- even which hotel he and his staff would stay in.

Not much was clear aside from lunch with counterpart Kim Yong Chol to start filling in the “nitty-gritty details’’ from the Singapore declaration signed between the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea, according to his spokeswoman Heather Nauert. A handshake with Kim Jong Un, at least, seemed certain.