No, Pompeo did not give Kim Jong Un a 'Rocket Man' CD, State Department says

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to members of the media following two days of meetings with Kim Yong Chol, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, before boarding his plane at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 7, 2018, to travel to Japan. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS)

Despite widespread rumors to the contrary, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not give North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a CD containing the Elton John song "Rocket Man" during his time in Pyongyang this weekend, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Saturday.

Speaking as Pompeo arrived in Tokyo, Nauert told reporters that the only thing the Secretary of State had left in Pyongyang was a letter to Kim from Trump. "He didn't leave anything behind other than a letter," Nauert said.

The rumors about the unusual gift had been sparked by a report in the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo on Friday.

Kang In-sung, a Washington-based correspondent for the widely-read conservative publication, had quoted an unnamed diplomatic source who said that President Trump had signed a copy of the CD for Kim, as the North Korean leader had asked about the song during their meeting in Singapore last month.

Trump had dubbed Kim "rocket man" last year in reference to the repeated North Korean missile tests under his watch; since Kim took power in 2011, the isolated country had tested more than 85 missiles and four nuclear weapons. "Rocket Man" is also the name of a 1972 rock song by the British singer Elton John, featured on the album Honky Château.

Chosun Ilbo's report was widely shared — perhaps in part because it suggested a light-hearted side to tense denuclearization talks between the United States and North Korea. The gift may have also suggested to some that Kim had a sense of humor about himself, despite his stern appearances in North Korean state media.

Pompeo himself had been asked about the CD earlier by a journalist accompanying him to North Korea. The Secretary of State had laughed, but did not confirm or deny the report.

Nauert told reporters in Japan on Saturday that Pompeo did not meet Kim during this visit to North Korea but that they had not expected to. Instead, Pompeo spent most of his time in meetings with his counterpart negotiator, Kim Yong Chol, a former spy chief who had light-heartedly teased him about his sleep habits.

The talks between Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol were the first high-level, face-to-face meetings since Trump and Kim met in Singapore on June 12 and reached an agreement to work toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, among other things.

Amid increasing scrutiny of North Korea's commitment to giving up its weapons, the Secretary of State had visited the country in a bid to hammer out the details of a denuclearization plan.

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