SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns dispatch of a top lieutenant to the United States suggests that preparations for a summit between him and President Donald Trump are in the final stages. But history shows that such trips dont always lead to summits: The high hopes raised by a similar North Korean mission to Washington to set up a summit 18 years ago ended up dashed.
Trump confirmed in a tweet today that senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol is coming to New York. South Korean media earlier reported that his name was on the passenger list for a fight Wednesday from Beijing to New York.
Kim Yong Chol, a vice chairman of the ruling Workers Party who was seen in the Beijing airport today by The Associated Press, has been deeply involved in the diplomacy that followed Kim Jong Uns sudden outreach to Washington and Seoul earlier this year.
He is among a small group of North Korean officials who have accompanied Kim Jong Un to all four of his summits with foreign leaders in recent months twice with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and twice with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He also visited South Korea in February to attend the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics at the start of Kim Jong Uns charm offensive.
Kim Yong Chol, who is about 72, is a contentious figure outside North Korea.
Before taking up the job responsible for relations with South Korea in 2016 he was a four-star army general and a military intelligence chief who is thought to have been behind a slew of provocations, including two deadly attacks in 2010 that killed 50 South Koreans and an alleged 2014 cyberattack on Sony Pictures. Both Seoul and Washington imposed sanctions on him in recent years.
While in the United States, South Korean media say Kim Yong Chol will likely meet Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who visited Pyongyang, North Koreas capital, twice recently, to finalize plans for the North Korea-U.S. summit. But its not known what else hell do there. Media reports said Pompeo could make a third trip to Pyongyang after Kims U.S. visit.
His U.S. visit will follow a recent diplomatic back-and-forth that began when Trump on Thursday abruptly backed away from the meeting, citing hostile comments by the North. Trump then announced the summit could still happen in Singapore on June 12, as initially scheduled, after North Korea issued an unusually conciliatory statement about his cancellation of the summit.
Subsequently, U.S. and North Korean officials on Sunday began preliminary talks at the Korean border to set the agenda for the summit. The countries were expected to hold another set of working-level meetings in Singapore to discuss protocol, security and other logistical issues for the summit.
While Kim Yong Chols trip to the United States could further brighten the prospects for the summit, history shows that things could still crumble at the last minute even after an exchange of high-level officials.
