Pompeo in Japan pledges 'fully coordinated' stance on North Korea

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) shakes hands with Japan&#039;s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

(Image credit: Eugene Hoshiko/Getty Images)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Japan Saturday reassuring the long-time American ally its connection to the United States would not be negatively affected by developments in Washington's relationship with Pyongyang.

He told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe their meeting is necessary "so we have a fully coordinated and unified view" on North Korean denuclearization progress. "It is important for us to hear from you as I travel to Pyongyang to make sure that we are fully in sync with respect to missile programs [and chemical and biological weapons] programs," Pompeo said. "We will bring up the issue of [Japanese] abductees [in North Korea] as well, and then we will share with you how we hope to proceed when we are in Pyongyang tomorrow."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.