Kim Yong-chol arrives in New York City for talks with Mike Pompeo aimed at setting summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un
A senior North Korean official has arrived in New York in the highest-level official visit to the United States in 18 years, as Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un sought to salvage prospects for a high-stakes nuclear summit.
Kim Yong-chol, the former military intelligence chief and one of the North Korean leader’s closest aides, landed mid-afternoon on an Air China flight from Beijing. Associated Press journalists saw the plane taxi down the tarmac before the North’s delegation disembarked at JFK International Airport.
During his unusual visit, Kim Yong-chol was to have dinner Wednesday with Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state who traveled from Washington to see him. The two planned a “day full of meetings” on Thursday, the White House said. Their talks will be aimed at determining whether a meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un, originally scheduled for 12 June but later canceled by Trump, can be restored, US officials have said.
The talks come as preparations for the highly anticipated summit in Singapore were barreling forward on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, despite lingering uncertainty about whether it will really occur, and when. As Kim and Pompeo were meeting in New York, other US teams were meeting with North Korean officials in Singapore and in the heavily fortified Korean Demilitarized Zone.
“If it happens, we’ll certainly be ready,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of the Singapore summit. Regarding the date for the meeting, she added, “We’re going to continue to shoot for June 12th.”
North Korea’s flurry of diplomatic activity following nuclear weapons and missile tests in 2017 suggests that Kim is eager for sanctions relief to build his economy and the international legitimacy the summit with Trump would provide.
