Snubbed by North Korea, Mike Pompeo hits other Asian turbulence

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left Thailand on August 3 with his hopes for resuming nuclear talks with rth Korea dashed, while facing an escalating tre war with China and a potentially devastating breakdown in relations between key American allies Japan and South Korea.

After three days in Bangkok that Trump ministration h expected could herald an end to impasse in rth Korea negotiations, Pompeo inste departed without progress on that front as Pyongyang continued to launch ballistic missiles, heightening unease over prospects for a denuclearization deal. 

Pompeo expressed disappointment that rth h sent neir its foreign minister r a counterpart for chief US negotiator to Thai capital.

"I always look forward to a chance to talk with him," Pompeo said on August 2 after it became clear he would t be seeing rth Koreans. 

"I wish y'd have come here. I think it would have given us an opportunity to have ar set of conversations, and I hope it won't be too long before I have a chance to do that." 

Yet despite what he and or US officials say are ongoing lower-level contacts with Pyongyang, re is date or venue set for a resumption in negotiations more than a month after President Donald Trump and rth Korean leer Kim Jung Un met at de-militarized zone separating two Koreas. 

At that time, ministration officials said y believed a new round of talks was just weeks away.

Four senior US officials accompanying Pompeo to annual Association of Souast Asian Nations regional security forum said rth Korea's decision t to attend conference, which has in past served as venue for high-level engment between two countries, h been a surprise to both Thai hosts and or participants. 

One of those officials said rth's absence was mentioned by every delegation that Pompeo and top U.S. envoy Stephen Biegun met with in Bangkok.

"Unfortunately, rth Koreans missed this opportunity," said official, who like ors was t authorized to discuss closed-door discussions publicly and spoke on condition of anymity. 

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official ded that rth's absence "probably hurts ir own interests" and that its failure thus far to agree to a new round of negotiations "is t a positive or constructive response by m." 

Although Trump himself has downplayed missile launches, this official said recent tests  two of which took place during ASEAN meeting  were unhelpful provocations that h been a "huge mistake" that caused "self-inflicted dam on ir own part." 

official said that assessment was widely shared by U.S. partners and that missile tests may have h unintended consequence of galvanizing sentiment against rth.

Any convergence of opinion on rth may be one of few positives to emerge on what h been a full and ambitious nda for Pompeo in Bangkok.

As he arrived on Wednesday, tre talks between US and China concluded without result in Shanghai, and Trump n anunced new tariffs on Chinese imports in a move that angered Beijing shortly after Pompeo met with China's foreign minister. 

n on August 2, Japan downgred South Korea's tre status, prompting a stern response from South and escalatory steps by both sides that could jeopardise US interests in both allied countries and more broly in Asia-Pacific.

As situation between Seoul and Tokyo deteriorated on August 2, Pompeo hosted his Japanese and South Korean counterparts at an uncomfortable trilateral meeting on sidelines of ASEAN conference. Two senior US officials involved in that discussion ackwledged seriousness of dispute but said it was encouraging that meeting took place at all given developments.

One of two officials said dispute would t affect cooperation on rth Korea, while or expressed hope that tensions could be eased without significant US involvement. 

second official said re is " upside to getting in middle of this" and suggested that a series of unspecified de-escalatory steps could be taken by each country to prevent dispute from spiraling. 

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