Kim Yong Chol, Top North Korean Official, Arrives In New York For Pre-Summit Talks

Kim Yong Chol, a top North Korean official, arrived in New York Wednesday for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ahead of what the White House says is an "expected" summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Kim Yong Chol is a former military intelligence chief and one of the North Korean leader's most trusted aides. A vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party's central committee, he is the highest-level representative from the North to set foot in the United States since 2000.

Kim Yong Chol's talks with Pompeo will mark their third meeting, but the first meeting to take place in the United States, reports CBS News' Kylie Atwood. 

Mr. Trump confirmed Tuesday that Kim was to hold talks with Pompeo. But it wasn't immediately known what else he would do in the U.S. 

South Korean media speculated that he was carrying a personal letter from Kim Jong Un and may push to travel to Washington to meet with Mr. Trump.

Pompeo has traveled to Pyongyang twice in recent weeks for meetings with Kim Jong Un, and has said there is a "shared understanding" between the two sides about what they hope to achieve in talks. South Korean media speculated that Pompeo could make a third trip to Pyongyang after Kim Yong Chol's U.S. trip.

Mr. Trump and Kim Jong Un were set to hold their summit June 12 in Singapore, but Mr. Trump announced last week that he was pulling out of the meeting. Since then, he has suggested the summit could be back on, and Kim Yong Chol's trip to the U.S. seems to imply that preparations for a meeting could be in the final stages.

Kim Yong Chol's trip comes amid two sets of other pre-summit talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

A team of U.S. officials led by former U.S. nuclear negotiator Sung Kim began talks with North Korean officials at the Korean border village of Panmunjom on Sunday to set the agenda for the summit.

A North Korean delegation led by another of Kim Jong Un's trusted aides, Kim Chang Son, flew to Singapore on Monday night for talks with U.S. officials to discuss logistical issues for the summit. Details of those talks hadn't emerged yet.

North Korea's flurry of diplomatic activity following a torrid run in nuclear weapons and missile tests in 2017 suggests that Kim Jong Un is eager for sanctions relief to build his economy and the international legitimacy the summit with Trump would provide. But there are lingering doubts on whether Kim will every fully relinquish his nuclear arsenal, which he may see as his only guarantee of survival in a region surrounded by enemies.

While there have been a few instances in which countries were persuaded to abandon their nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief and compensation, none of the cases are directly applicable to North Korea, which has advanced its nukes further and with greater zeal than any of the others. The North's arsenal now includes purported thermonuclear warheads and developmental long-range missiles potentially capable of reaching mainland U.S. cities.

But South Korea, which has lobbied hard for the talks between Mr. Trump and Kim, has insisted that Kim can be persuaded to abandon his nuclear facilities, materials and bombs in a verifiable and irreversible way if offered credible security and economic guarantees.

China, North Korea's longtime ally and chief trading partner, has sought to position itself as a key intermediary in talks over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. Beijing backs the North's proposal for a phased and synchronized denuclearization process, while the United States insists on a comprehensive one-shot deal in which North Korea eliminates its nukes first and receives rewards later.

Russia said Wednesday that its foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, will travel to North Korea for talks on Thursday.

Kim Yong Chol is the highest-level North Korean official to travel to the United States since 2000, when Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok visited Washington and met President Bill Clinton amid warming ties between the wartime foes. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made a historic reciprocal visit to Pyongyang later in 2000 in a bid to arrange a North Korea visit by Clinton. Ties turned sour again after President George W. Bush took office in early 2001 with a tough policy on the North.

Kim Yong Chol's official title is a vice chairman of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party. Previously, he was a four-star army general and a military intelligence chief who is thought to have been behind 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.

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