Mike Pompeo, C.I.A. Chief, Visits South Korea as Tensions Grow With North<br />North Korea, which condemns the drill as a rehearsal for invasion, has threatened to turn the aircraft carrier into a "giant heap of scrap metal" and "bury it in the sea." South Korean and American officials have warned<br />that the North could be preparing to conduct its sixth nuclear test.<br />director, Mike Pompeo, visited the South Korean capital on Monday amid heightened tensions with North Korea,<br />and about a week before South Koreans vote for a new president, an embassy spokesman said on Monday.<br />The North Korean missile test took place as the United States aircraft carrier Carl Vinson<br />was sailing into Korean waters to conduct a joint naval exercise with South Korea.<br />News reports in South Korea speculated about which senior South Korean officials Mr. Pompeo<br />might be meeting with on his visit to discuss the North’s nuclear and missile abilities.<br />In recent weeks, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson<br />and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis have made separate trips to Seoul reaffirming an alliance with South Korea under President Trump in the face of growing North Korean threats.<br />Mr. Pompeo’s visit drew attention from the South Korean news media at a time of increasing anxiety on<br />the Korean Peninsula over the North’s nuclear ambitions and increased ballistic missile activity.
