INTERVIEW – BRUCE KLINGNER – former CIA’s deputy division chief for Korea and a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center @BruceKlingner

>> Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is traveling to North Korea today. Pompeo under pressure to secure nuclear progress in North Korea visit. Secretary of state faces pressure to establish timeline for denuclearisation as well as duty to reassure regional allies. The secretary of state is expected to meet Kim in person in Pyongyang, according to the White House, though details of the agenda have not yet been released. Pompeo, on his third visit to the North Korean capital, is expected to press Kim on a recent report suggesting that far from beginning the process of denuclearisation, North Korea was making “rapid upgrades” to its Yongbyon nuclear complex.

>> Unnamed US intelligence officials also concluded that North Korea does not intend to completely give up its nuclear stockpile.

> Pompeo will also use his visit to consult and reassure Washington’s allies in the region, with meetings planned with Japanese and South Korean officials in Tokyo on Sunday.