Anchor: After a two-day trip to Pyongyang last week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to follow Vietnam’s footsteps by improving ties with the U.S. Meanwhile, U.S. Republicans are urging President Donald Trump to reconsider his decision to halt joint military exercises until further progress is made on the North’s denuclearization.
Our Hong Suhryung has more.
 
Report: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent a clear message to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday during a meeting with members of the U.S. and Vietnamese business community in Hanoi.

[Soundbite: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo]
 "In light of the once unimaginable prosperity and partnership we have with Vietnam today, I have a message for Chairman Kim Jong-un. President Trump believes your country can replicate this path. It's yours if you'll seize the moment. The miracle can be yours, it can be your miracle in North Korea as well.”
 
The secretary said that Vietnam’s experience since the normalization of relations with the U.S. in 1995 should be proof for North Korea that prosperity and partnership with the U.S. is possible after decades of conflict and mistrust.
 
North Korea’s foreign ministry had accused the Trump administration on Saturday of pushing a “gangster-like demand” and dubbed the meeting “deeply regrettable,” just hours after Pompeo said his two days of talks were “productive.”
 
Pompeo then brushed aside the harsh comments from the North on Sunday after his talks with the Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers, saying that “if those requests were gangster-like, the world is a gangster," and noted that the UN Security Council has been clear on what North Korea needs to achieve in regards to denuclearization. 
 
Meanwhile, U.S. Republican lawmakers have urged President Donald Trump to reconsider his decision to halt military exercises with South Korea until further progress is made with the North’s denuclearization.
 
Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, Senator Roy Blunt said that President Trump should reconsider his pledge to stop military drills with South Korea, saying that it was a mistake to give up the joint exercises.
 
Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday that Washington should continue with military exercises with Seoul as they help keep the Korean Peninsula safe.
Hong Suhryung, KBS World Radio News.

[Photo : YONHAP News]