*US Representatives Mike Kelly (left) and Ami Bera (right)

Anchor: American lawmakers have responded to recent complaints from Pyongyang that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is responsible for the stalled nuclear negotiations and should be removed from talks. In an interview with KBS World Radio, U.S. Congressmen Ami Bera and Mike Kelly agreed Pompeo has been doing a good job and that it was only right for President Donald Trump to walk away from the Hanoi summit with Kim Jong-un.
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: U.S. Congressman Ami Bera says North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shouldn't try to dictate who will represent the U.S. in nuclear negotiations.

During an interview with KBS World Radio's Korea 24, Rep. Bera addressed the recent complaints from Pyongyang that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should be removed from the Washington-Pyongyang talks. 

[Sound bite: US House of Rep. Congressman Ami Bera (D-Calif.)]
"From Chairman Kim's perspective, I don't think doing missile tests sends the right message. We’re not worried about that. It’s something we obviously play close attention to. You know, there's a long ways to go here. It’s up to us to pick our negotiators. I don't think Chairman Kim should be dictating who our negotiators are, as we won’t be dictating who his negotiators are." 

Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency on Thursday ran an interview with a key North Korean Foreign Ministry official, who said Pyongyang hopes for a more amicable and seasoned official to represent Washington.

Bera said Trump was right to walk away from the Hanoi summit with Kim in February, and that the ball is now in the North's court.

[Sound bite: US House of Rep. Congressman Ami Bera (D-Calif.)]
"Congress for the most part, Democrats and Republicans speak with one voice. As I've said before, verify, verify, verify. Then we can start trusting them. The ball is in Chairman Kim’s court at this juncture. President Trump [has] walked away. What Chairman Kim needs to do, is if he’s serious about having sanctions lifted, if he’s serious about economic development, the slow process of the South and North working together, he has to lay out some concrete steps that will lead to denuclearization. At that juncture, we can lay out a framework and a timeline for a potential third dialogue. The last thing you wanna do is have a third dialogue and walk away with no deal."

[Sound bite: US House of Rep. Congressman Mike Kelly (R-Penn.)]
" ...there's also the path that we’ve dealt with before, where sanctions were put in place, sometimes sanctions were lightened. The North has never completely gone along with the pattern we think it would have followed." 

During the joint interview, Congressman Mike Kelly said considering the past examples with North Korea, it is necessary to maintain the current maximum pressure campaign. 

[Sound bite: US House of Rep. Congressman Mike Kelly (R-Penn.)]
"I think the economic opportunities for the North, there’s no greater example of how a nation can succeed when it's allowed to move forward with the assets that it has than the Republic. You look at the Republic and say, this could happen in the North also. But in order for us to get to that situation, there has to be a commitment to peace, there has to be a commitment to denuclearization, there has to be a commitment that it's in the best interest of everybody that we get to this agreement."

Led by Bera and Kelly, a six-member U.S. congressional delegation came to Seoul for a week-long trip ending on Friday. The lawmakers of the Congressional Study Group on Korea met with key Seoul officials to discuss South Korea-U.S. collaboration in dealing with the North. 

The full-length interview with the two American lawmakers will first air on the Friday edition of Korea 24.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.