FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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Mattis Heading To China, with North Korea on the Agenda

June 25, 2018 (EIRNS)—An unnamed U.S. defense official told media June 24 that the United States will soon present a timeline to North Korea with “specific asks” of Pyongyang after the historic June 12 summit.

The official “spoke to a small group of reporters ahead of a trip to Asia this week by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis,” reported Reuters, described Mattis’ trip as including a three-day visit to China on June 26-28, the first by an American Defense Secretary since 2014. He will then go to South Korea and ending in Japan on June 29.

The official did not specify details regarding the timeline to North Korea, but suggested it would be rapid enough so that,

“We’ll know pretty soon if they’re going to operate in good faith or not. There will be specific asks and there will be a specific timeline where we present the North Koreans with our concept of what implementation of the summit agreement looks like.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters last week that he would be returning to Pyongyang “before too terribly long” to follow up on the June 12 summit between Kim Jong-un and President Trump in Singapore.