North Korean official reportedly heads to U.S. as potential summit diplomacy heats up

Diplomacy accelerated Tuesday ahead of a potential summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a team of U.S. diplomats involved in preparatory discussions left a Seoul hotel, possibly to continue talks with their North Korean counterparts.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol planned to head to the United States, potentially for more talks to set up the summit. He would be the most senior North Korean official to visit the United States in 18 years.

Yonhap said Kim Yong Chol’s name was on the passenger list for a flight Wednesday from Beijing to New York. It earlier reported that he was heading straight to Washington, but later said he changed his flight to New York. South Korean officials couldn’t immediately confirm the report. Kim was seen in the Beijing airport Tuesday by the Associated Press.

Kim is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party’s central committee, tasked with inter-Korean relations. A visit to the United States would mark the highest-level North Korean official visit since 2000, when late National Defense Commission First Vice Chairman Jo Myong Rok visited Washington, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.

In South Korea, it wasn’t immediately clear whether the American officials, including Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to Manila, were heading to the village of Panmunjom, which straddles the border inside the Demilitarized Zone, where they met with North Korean officials on Sunday. Sung Kim is a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and was a top negotiator with North Korea in past nuclear talks.

Trump withdrew from a planned June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un last Thursday, citing hostile North Korean comments, but has since said the meeting in Singapore could still happen. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between Trump and Kim, met with the North Korean leader in a surprise meeting on Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.