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Asia & Pacific

North Korea rejects Pompeo’s role in nuclear talks, asks for more ‘mature’ U.S. envoy

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April 18, 2019 at 1:49 p.m. EDT
On April 18, North Korea said it wanted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to be replaced in nuclear talks, hours after it announced a weapons test. (Video: Reuters)

TOKYO — North Korea spurned the top U.S. diplomat as not sufficiently “mature” and offered a hand to Moscow on Thursday in back-to-back moves by Kim Jong Un to possibly reset the terms of his outreach with Washington.

The announcements came hours after North Korea announced it had tested a tactical guided weapon, its first public weapons test since the breakdown of a summit between President Trump and Kim in February.