Top DPRK official lands in US for talks with Pompeo

NEW YORK — Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the DPRK's ruling Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee, arrived in New York on Wednesday to meet with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

It is the highest-level official visit of the DPRK to the United States in 18 years.

Kim Yong-chol and Mike Pompeo have had dinner in New York on Wednesday night and they are planning to have a full-day meeting on Thursday.

US officials say their talks will be aimed at determining whether a meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, originally scheduled for June 12 but later canceled by Trump, can be restored.

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary remained optimistic about the prospect of an off-again, on-again Trump-Kim meeting at a daily briefing earlier.

"We're going to continue to shoot for the June 12 and expect to do that," Sanders said.

The latest positive progress for the summit, originally scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, came after Trump canceled the meeting in a letter to Kim Jong-un last Thursday, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed by Pyongyang recently.

In response to Trump's letter, the DPRK's First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said early Friday that the country is ready to sit down with the United States any time in any manner for talks to solve the problems existing between them.

Trump then reversed course, saying both sides wanted the meeting to happen and it could still go ahead after productive talks. He also confirmed on Sunday that a US official team had arrived in the DPRK to talk about the preparation for talks.

AP-Xinhua