With North Korea and the US alike hailing the progress that was achieved during US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s fourth visit to Pyongyang, the previously slow-moving talks aimed at achieving North Korea’s denuclearization are now gaining momentum.

Pompeo said he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had made “significant progress” toward an agreement for the North to give up its nuclear weapons program, and that he expected further progress after a second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump. 

Kim and Trump believe that “there is real progress that can be made, substantive progress that can be made at the next summit,” Pompeo said in an interview with a group of reporters traveling with him in Seoul.

The US and North Korea are “pretty close” to setting a date and venue for the next summit, he said.

In Washington, President Donald Trump tweeted that he looked forward to meeting Kim again in the near future, citing “progress” on agreements he made at his summit with Kim in June.

Following Pompeo’s visit, North Korea struck a positive tone, with its state-run news agency calling the talks between Pompeo and Kim “productive and excellent.” Kim had expressed his “willingness and conviction” that great progress would be made on achieving the goals set at the Singapore summit, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

In Seoul, South Korean officials were also upbeat.

“US Secretary of State Pompeo’s trip to the North created an atmosphere and conditions for holding a second North-US summit at an early date,” South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Monday.

Moon’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong also said Monday that Pompeo’s visit had yielded “a lot of accomplishments” and that negotiations toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula could be expected to “gain traction.”

Did Pompeo’s visit really yield meaningful progress?

Questions remain over whether North Korea and the US have succeeded in narrowing their differences on a road map for denuclearization.

Working-level talks between the US and North Korea will begin shortly, according to the State Department. Stephen Biegun, the US’ special representative for North Korea, said Monday that he had extended an invitation to his North Korean counterpart to meet as soon as possible.

North Korea agreed to work toward the “complete” denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during the Singapore summit, but little progress has been made since then.

At the heart of the stalemate are the two sides’ differing approaches to denuclearization. North Korea has demanded the US take trust-building measures such as declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War first, before it accepts the US’ demands for verifiable denuclearization. The US, on the other hand, wants the North to verifiably denuclearize first before it gives any incentives to the North.

It was not disclosed whether Pompeo and Kim had discussed the end-of-war declaration and the dismantling of North Korea’s major nuclear complex in Yongbyon -- possible concessions that could be made by the US and North Korea, respectively -- during their meeting.

“The fact that North Korea and the US discussed North Korea’s denuclearization steps and corresponding measures by the US would mean that the US has finally accepted North Korea’s demand for a step-by-step, simultaneous approach (toward denuclearization,)” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute, viewing it as a sign of “narrowed gaps” on the process.

Kim and Pompeo discussed “denuclearization steps that will be taken by North Korea” as well as “corresponding measures” that the US will take in return, Seoul’s presidential office said Sunday after Pompeo briefed Moon on the outcome of his meeting with Kim.

But other experts were more cautious.

One of the visible achievements the US has won is that North Korea will invite outside experts to verify whether the Punggye-ri nuclear site, which the North voluntarily dismantled in May as a goodwill gesture, had been destroyed irreversibly. Pompeo said that inspections would occur “as soon as we get it logistically worked out.”

While it could be a trust-building measure taken by the North, it is still far short of a major step toward dismantling the nuclear weapons program, according to Woo Jeong-yup, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute.

“I cannot see any specific progress made through Secretary Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang yet,” he said. “North Korea now has nuclear weapons, it does not need to conduct any more nuclear tests and thus it is difficult to see the dismantling of Punggye-ri site and invitation of outside experts for verification as a meaningful denuclearization step.

“Still, inviting international experts for the monitoring of the dismantled Punggye-ri site could give President Trump enough of an excuse for him to hold the next summit,” he said.

Analysts here say the next US-North Korea summit is likely to be confirmed, largely depending on whether working-level talks on denuclearization produce an agreement on what to exchange at the second summit.

Trump may be tempted to hold the second summit soon -- and possibly even in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang -- to make history and headlines, pointing to another success right before the midterm elections, according to Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest.

“That could mean the administration offers, and North Korea accepts, a political declaration that ends the Korean War in exchange for a big action towards denuclearization, such as the closing of the Yongbyon nuclear complex.”

(laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)