Seoul says Pompeo’s canceled trip impacts N. Korea liaison office plans

South Korea said on Monday the abrupt cancellation of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s trip to North Korea is having an “effect” on an inter-Korean liaison office it planned to open by this month. US President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled his top diplomat’s planned trip to North Korea on Friday, acknowledging for the first time that his effort to get Pyongyang to denuclearize had stalled since his summit with the North’s leader, Reuters said. South Korea’s presidential Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said on Monday that the cancelled visit “cannot be said to have zero effect” on the plan for the liaison office. “We were thinking of the opening of the liaison office as part of a smooth series of schedules including [Pompeo’s] North Korea visit then the inter-Korean summit,” Kim said. “Now that a new situation has arisen, there is a need to inspect it again accordingly.”