A top North Korean official left for Washington on Thursday, reports said, for talks with his US counterpart ahead of an expected summit between President Donald Trump and Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong Un. Kim Yong Chol, Kim’s right-hand man and the counterpart to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in denuclearisation talks, was seen getting into a vehicle at Beijing airport after flying in from Pyongyang, pictures showed. Kim’s trip comes as expectations grow for a second US-North Korean summit after Kim Jong Un last week went to Beijing, long Pyongyang’s key ally, for talks with President Xi Jinping. The summit, which observers say will probably be held in either Vietnam or Thailand, is expected despite a lack of progress in denuclearisation negotiations. Another North Korean official, Choe Son Hui, travelled through Beijing earlier this week en route to Sweden, where she could meet the US special representative on North Korea, Stephen Biegun.

Source: The Guardian January 17, 2019 12:33 UTC