▲ Then-US Secretary of State Pompeo meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (right) in Pyongyang


Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed that he joked with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the subject of "Kim Jong-un's assassination" when he visited North Korea in 2018 to pre-suspend the North American summit.



On the 17th (local time), Fox News published excerpts from former Secretary Pompeo's memoir titled "Never Give an Inch, Fighting for the America I Love." Some have been obtained and reported.



The memoir will be published on the 24th.



In the book, former Secretary Pompeo described a time when he secretly visited North Korea as a special envoy for then-President Donald Trump in March 2018, when he was the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).



"It wasn't the Easter weekend I had planned," Pompeo said. "My secret mission began on Good Friday, March 30, 2018 (the Friday before Easter), when we took off from Andrews Air Force Base. The destination was Pyongyang, North Korea. "I headed to one of the darkest places on Earth to meet Chairman Kim Jong-un," he wrote.



"The mission was a complete secret, known to very few people," he said. "My goal was to correct past failed efforts that failed to eliminate North Korea's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and in effect led to the current heightened threat."



Then I remembered the first time I met Chairman Kim.



Former Secretary Pompeo said, "This small, sweaty, sinister man tried to change the awkward atmosphere with all his charms, but he was at a level befitting a massacre." "I didn't expect you to show up. I know you tried to kill me."



He said, "Me and my team were prepared for this moment (starting a conversation with Kim Jong-un), but the joke about the assassination was not on the 'list of things he might say when he greets me'."



"But I was the director of the CIA, so I could understand his witty remarks. I decided to respond with humor."



So he replied, "'Chairman, I'm still trying to kill you,'



" he said.



Former Secretary of State Pompeo visited Pyongyang several times to coordinate the North Korea-U.S. summit, including a revisit to North Korea as secretary of state about 40 days after his special envoy visit.



"This book reveals how Pompeo led one of the Trump administration's most important foreign policy breakthroughs," the memoir publisher described.





(Photo = Yonhap News)