Secretary Mattis Says Progress Has Been Made in North Korean Denuclearization

Hopefully “progress” with North Korea’s denuclearization doesn’t reach a point where Secretary Mattis has to become the one to make it happen:

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said there is progress on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, although it remains a difficult issue.

Mattis told reporters traveling with him to Vietnam Monday that the efforts to denuclearize North Korea continue to be diplomatically-led.

He cited U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent trip to Pyongyang, where the top American diplomat met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to push progress on denuclearization and plan a second summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.

“There is progress,” Mattis said. “We know it’s going to be difficult as they deal with this difficult issue. No surprise there.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but this was a pretty vanilla statement about the “progress” being made.