폼페이오, '북한 CVID 목표 여전하냐' 질문에 "그렇다"

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has fired fresh criticism at North Korea and China.
He reconfirmed Washington's goal of completely denuclearizing North Korea and said the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston was due to it being "a den of spies".
Choi Jeong-yoon has the details.
The Trump administration's goal for CVID, or the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of Pyeongyang's nuclear and missile program is still valid.
That's how U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded Thursday to Republican senator Cory Gardner's question on the regime's denuclearization at a Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
Although Pompeo didn't bring up the matter in advance, watchers say it's somewhat unprecedented for a high-level official to speak out publicly on the CVID goal.
The U.S. has refrained from using the term since the historic 2018 Singapore Kim-Trump summit, as North Korean parties have been repulsed by the idea.
Since then it's been coined as FFVD, final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, which for some time has also been seldomly used by U.S. officials to not anger Kim's regime.
In fact, Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of the regime's leader made it an official earlier this month, for the U.S., Japan and Australia calling for a definite measures on achieving Pyeongyang's CVID.
Meanwhile, reflecting rising tensions between the world's two largest economies, Pompeo also stressed President Trump's tough line on China,...calling them 'the central threat of our times'.
"Most importantly, on China, we see the Chinese Communist Party also for what it is... the central threat of our times. Our vigorous diplomacy has helped lead an international awakening to the threat of the CCP. Senators the tide is turning."
He said the reason for closing down the Houston consulate of China was because it was "a den of spies".
He also cited international support for Washington's policies, although he expressed dismay at the number of countries supporting Beijing's new security law for Hong Kong.
He added that China's invasion of human rights over ethnic minorities in the western part of the country will face the U.S's additional actions.
Choi Jeong-yoon, Arirang News.