NPR

'Complete, Verifiable, Irreversible' A Tough Goal For North Korea Summit

The Trump administration's terms for North Korea's denuclearization verge on the impossible, some former negotiators say: "There's no way of doing something that's irreversible, that I know of."
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un views the Hwasong-15 missile in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency. The missile is believed to be capable of reaching the continental United States.

The day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took the oath of office in early May, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert declared that four letters — CVID — would be the Trump administration's dogma for dealing with North Korea and its nuclear weapons arsenal.

"The government likes acronyms so much, we've got a new one: CVID — complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization," Nauert told reporters at the department's

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