Kim Jong Un Sends Right-Hand Man to U.S. for Pre-Summit Talks

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dispatched one of his top aides to the U.S. for talks ahead of his planned summit with Donald Trump next month, according to a person familiar with the issue who asked not to be named because the trip isn’t public, reports Bloomberg.

 Kim Yong Chol, North Korea’s former spy chief, would become the highest ranked official from the isolated nation to visit the U.S. since 2000, when Pyongyang sent Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok to meet then-President Bill Clinton. Yonhap News Agency reported Kim Yong Chol will meet U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, with whom he dined in Pyongyang earlier this month.

The veteran official’s trip is another sign that preparations for the on-again, off-again June 12 meeting in Singapore are moving forward. Just three days after Trump abruptly called off the unprecedented meeting in a letter to the North Korean leader, the president appeared to confirm the talks were back on.

Kim Yong Chol accompanied Kim Jong Un at all of his recent meetings with both Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, according to North Korean state-media reports. South Korea said Tuesday it wasn’t aware of the trip by Kim Yong Chol, who is vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee. He’s set to land in New York on Wednesday on a flight from Beijing, Yonhap said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing that she has no information on Kim Yong Chol’s

0512/2013
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