Pompeo announced on Wednesday that he would be inviting North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho to New York next week to restart talks at the United Nations General Assembly meeting.
The 54-year-old official's declaration came on the heels of South Korean President Moon Jae-in's third meeting with North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un, which resulted in Kim promising to dismantle his nuclear program by 2021, if the US makes its own concessions.
Porter told Radio Sputnik's Loud & Clear on Thursday that despite all the back and forth between Kim and US President Donald Trump, both leaders "are serious about reaching an agreement for denuclearization."
Aside from a period where Trump threw childish insults at Kim in 2017, including the time when he referred to Kim as "rocket man," Porter told hosts John Kiriakou and Walter Smolarek that Trump "has been relatively consistent in his position that the United States has to negotiate with North Korea.
"He has been alone, as far as I know, among major political figures in saying that… it would be crazy not to negotiate with North Korea," Gareth said, before noting that Kim, unlike his predecessors, managed to successfully coax the US into peace talks by using Pyongyang's nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs as bargaining chips.
As for what the United States has to give up in order to make the playing field even between the two countries, the historian indicated that Washington will have to do three things: Offer assurances that the US won't attack North Korea, like a treaty; declare a formal end to the Korean War, which means the end of the UN command in Korea; and, lastly, lift sanctions against the nation.
Following the North and South Korea summit, Kim also promised to allow international inspectors to monitor the closing of missile test sites and launch pads in the DPRK. Promises were even made for Kim to visit Seoul soon and work alongside Moon to try to jointly host the Summer Olympics in 2032, according to Politico.
When it comes to Moon, Gareth told Smolarek that he plays an essential role when it comes to the US and North Korea.
"President Moon Jae-in of South Korea has played a key role, not only in diplomacy in regard to his relationship with Kim Jong Un… but in the international politics of this issue," he said. "[Moon] has been a source of information to Donald Trump every time there has been a new twist on the storyline on the state of play with North Korea."
