“Exchanging assassination jokes with Kim five years ago”
Pompeo considering running for president next year
“I didn’t know you would show up. You tried to kill me.” (North Korean State Council Chairman Kim Jong-un)
“I’m still trying to kill them.” (Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo)
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (59), former head of foreign affairs in the US administration of Donald Trump, revealed a surprise anecdote about exchanging “assassination jokes” with him when he first met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, North Korea in March 2018. On the 17th (local time), Fox News released excerpts from his autobiography, “Never Back Down: Fighting for the America I Love,” to be published on the 24th.
Former Secretary of State Pompeo, then director of the CIA, visited Pyongyang in strict secrecy as former President Trump’s special envoy to pre-coordinate the North Korea-US summit in Singapore in June of the same year. He recalled that he was nervous before visiting North Korea, saying, “I went to meet Chairman Kim, the darkest person in Pyongyang, one of the darkest places on earth.”
Former Secretary Pompeo said that he took a commemorative photo with Chairman Kim with a light smile after the assassination joke, saying, “He seemed convinced that I was joking.” He continued, “It seemed that the vicious little man (Chairman Kim), soaked in sweat, was trying to break the awkward atmosphere by mobilizing all the charms one would expect from a mass murderer.”
Former Secretary Pompeo returned to Pyongyang as Secretary of State about 40 days after his first visit to North Korea. Since then, he has visited North Korea a total of four times, including two more visits. He claimed that the purpose of his visit to North Korea, in addition to preparations for the North Korea-US summit, was to rectify the past administration’s failure to completely eliminate North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
In the US political world, it is believed that former Secretary Pompeo, who is being discussed as a candidate for the opposition Republican Party in the 2024 US presidential election, published a memoir to weigh his run for the presidential election. He announced in November of last year that he would decide whether to run for office by the spring of this year. Regarding the re-election of former President Trump, who was his superior, he responded that he did not care, saying, “The decisions of others do not affect my candidacy.” In addition to former Secretary Pompeo, key figures in the Trump administration, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, have recently published memoirs and are weighing their candidacy.
Reporter Jungsoo Hong [email protected]
