Why Kim Jong Un Hates Mike Pompeo—But Loves Trump
North Korea is making Secretary of State Mike Pompeo the bad guy in a sputtering diplomatic process that’s obviously not working.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at this stage seems to harbor more disdain and distrust for Pompeo, if that is possible, than he does for National Security Adviser John Bolton. Yes, Kim hosted Pompeo at a lavish luncheon in Pyongyang as recently as last October, but the seeming good will all went wrong when Pompeo sat beside President Donald Trump at the summit with Kim in February and Trump told Kim, in effect, much though I love you, this conversation is going nowhere.
Humiliated by Trump’s sudden walkout from the meeting in the historic Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, Kim appears to be holding Pompeo, not Bolton, personally responsible for the debacle.