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Top N Korean Official in Beijing en Route to Washington

Top N Korean Official in Beijing en Route to Washington
folder_openAsia-Pacific... access_time5 years ago
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Local Editor

A top North Korean official arrived in Beijing Thursday, reports said, en route to Washington 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 denuclearization talks, was seen getting into a vehicle at Beijing airport after flying in from Pyongyang, pictures showed.

He was due to leave the Chinese capital later Thursday for Washington, the South's Yonhap news agency reported.

He was expected to meet Pompeo on Friday before paying a courtesy call on Trump, it said, and appeared to be carrying another letter from his leader for the US commander in chief.

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 denuclearization negotiations.

At their first meeting in Singapore in June the two leaders signed a vaguely worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula".

But progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over what that means.

Pyongyang is seeking sanctions relief and rejects demands for what it calls its "unilateral" disarmament, while Washington insists that the punitive measures must stay in place until it gives up its nuclear arsenal.

Another North Korean official, Choe Son Hui, traveled through Beijing earlier this week en route to Sweden, where she could meet the US special representative on North Korea, Stephen Biegun.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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