I found the report of Kim Yong-chol being purged hard to believe considering he is the Butcher of the Cheonan which has been one of North Korea’s most successful operations in recent years:
Kim Yong-chol, in the white circle, watches an arts performance with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, fourth from left, in this photo released on Monday by the North’s Korean Central News Agency. The photo came amid rumors of him being purged after collapsed nuclear talks in Hanoi. Yonhap
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watched an art troupe’s performance, along with his top aides, including Kim Yong-chol, who was rumored to have been purged after the no-deal summit in Hanoi, Pyongyang’s media reported Monday.
The leader attended the show “given by amateur art groups of the wives of officers of units of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) selected in the seventh round of the second-term contest of art groups of KPA officers’ wives,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
He appeared with his wife Ri Sol-ju and other top officials, including Kim Yong-chol, the North’s counterpart to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in denuclearization negotiations with the U.S., the KCNA revealed.
Rumors have circulated that Kim Yong-chol might have been punished in the leader’s move to purge officials responsible for the no-deal summit with President Trump after the Chosun Ilbo, a major conservative newspaper, reported that Kim Yong-chol was punished with hard labor and another negotiator Kim Hyok-chol, a former North Korean envoy to the U.S. was executed citing anonymous sources last week.
1/18/19: President Donald J. Trump presented w/a letter from Chairman Kim Jong Un by Kim Yong Chol, Vice Chairman of the Worker’s Party of Korea and Chairman of the Korea Asia Pacific Peace Committee, followed by a expanded bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at the @WhiteHouse. pic.twitter.com/FgKtKqkDZn
Kim-Trump 2 will apparently happen by the end of February:
Pompeo, Kim, and U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun posed for photographs before going into their meeting but did not respond to reporters’ questions.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will hold a second summit near the end of February at a location to be announced at a later date, the White House said Friday. Trump and a top North Korean official met at the White House to finalize details of a potential summit on dismantling the North’s nuclear weapons program. “President Donald J. Trump met with Kim Yong Chol for an hour and half, to discuss denuclearization and a second summit, which will take place near the end of February,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. “The President looks forward to meeting with Chairman Kim at a place to be announced at a later date.”
Vietnam is widely reported to be a top candidate site. Both the U.S. and North Korea have embassies there.
You can read more at the link, but the fact that the Kim regime has agreed to the summit means they must feel they are going to get a significant concession from the US. I guess we will see what it is.
Kim Yong-chol, a top North Korean official, is expected to visit Washington this week to prepare for a second North-U.S. summit, after the American president sent a letter to the North Korean leader over the weekend.
A source familiar with the North-U.S. talks said Monday that Kim, the vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, “wanted to visit Washington immediately,” so the two sides are “working on scheduling a visit for Jan. 17 to 18.”
U.S. President Donald Trump sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over the weekend, reported CNN Tuesday, citing a source familiar with the ongoing denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
The letter from Trump was flown to Pyongyang and delivered by hand, according to the CNN source, who also said that Kim Yong-chol could visit Washington as soon as this week to finalize details of the upcoming summit.
There may be a lot of internal infighting in the White House that has led to a number of personnel changes, but at least no one is being sent to a concentration camp or shot which is what happens with senior leader disputes in North Korea:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un walks into the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun to pay tribute to his father, former leader Kim Jong-il, on Dec. 16, the seventh anniversary of his death. Left of Kim is Choe Ryong-hae, director of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. Right of Kim is Ri Su-yong, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party. Kim Yong-chol, the vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party, can be seen at the far right of the first row. [NORTH KOREA’S KOREAN CENTRAL TV]
Kim Yong-chol visited the White House early last June. Trump provided him with state-of-the-art security, including a number of trained bodyguards and his own Cadillac. Satisfied with the letter from Kim Jong-un’s letter that Kim Yong-chol delivered, Trump went so far as to walk him back to his car to see him off.
A couple of weeks later, Kim’s political profile hit an all-time high during the North-U.S. summit in Singapore, in which he stood next to leader Kim Jong-un.
According to the source that leaked Kim Yong-chol’s secret meeting with Andrew Kim, “Meeting Pompeo when he visited North Korea and his visit to Singapore with leader Kim were Kim Yong-chol’s way to solidify his position as a negotiator.” This was most likely the reason why he tried to strike a deal with the United States.
That meeting with Andrew Kim may have been a step too far, and it was only a matter of time before Kim Yong-chol’s request reached the ears of high-ranking North Korean officials, namely Choe Ryong-hae – who is far more frequently described as the second most powerful man in the North. According to an official who recently visited North Korea, “The Workers’ Party is looking into Kim’s recent request and the problematic issues that occurred because of it.” This “looking into” could be interpreted as Choe’s attempt to eliminate or at least curb Kim Yong-chol’s boosted political influence.
Experts are pointing out how Choe’s recent actions mirror the steps he took to eliminate Hwang Pyong-so, then director of the Army’s General Political Bureau. In October 2017, Choe implemented an internal investigation of Hwang and the political bureau he was in charge of. This investigation uncovered the supposed fact that Hwang disregarded orders and fabricated reports that were sent to Kim Jong-un. Hwang had to step down from his position as second in command and was ordered to spend time in a concentration camp. Experts say Choe was exacting revenge from Hwang, who took his position in 2014.
I have been suspecting that once the US mid-term elections were over that the White House would begin taking a harder line on North Korea’s denuclearization. This meeting cancelation could be the first sign of it:
High-level talks between the U.S. and North Korea set for this week in New York have been postponed.
The U.S. State Department said Wednesday the meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the vice chairman of the North Korean ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee Kim Yong-chol on Thursday has been called off.
Without providing a reason, the department said the two sides will reconvene talks when their respective schedules permit, adding the U.S. remains focused on fulfilling the commitments agreed to by their leaders in June. [KBS World Radio]
The Butcher of the Cheonan recently met with President Trump and all indications are that the meeting went very well:
U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place in Singapore on June 12th.
His announcement came after he met with senior North Korean official Kim Yong-chol at the White House on Friday, local time.
He said the “big deal” will be on June 12th and that he believes the North Korean leader is committed to denuclearization.
Trump also said the issue of formally ending the Korean War will be on the table.
He explained he no longer wants to use the term “maximum pressure” on North Korea and looks forward to the day sanctions can be lifted.
Trump said there were “hundreds of new sanctions ready to go on” but they won’t be imposed “until such time as the talks break down.”
Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party’s central committee, visited the White House as Kim Jong-un’s special envoy and delivered Kim’s letter to Trump. [KBS World Radio]
You can read more at the link, but for those that don’t know Kim Yong-chol is the guy that Kim Jong-un trusts the most to do his dirty work. I actually listened to Trump’s press conference and wonder what was in Kim Jong-un’s letter that Kim Yong-chol delivered? I wonder because President Trump alluded to during the press conference how “the subject matter was very interesting” in the letter that he ended up having a two hour conversation with Kim Yong-chol about. You can see the press conference below:
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a senior North Korean official met in New York Wednesday as both sides push to salvage a highly anticipated summit between their leaders.
The two had a 90-minute working dinner at the Manhattan residence of the U.S. deputy representative to the United Nations, with 13 days to go until a potential June 12 summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Kim Yong-chol, a vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, arrived at JFK International Airport earlier in the day, becoming the highest-ranking North Korean to visit the U.S. since 2000.
His meeting with Pompeo is expected to determine whether the two sides have enough common ground to go ahead with the summit on dismantling the North’s nuclear weapons program in exchange for concessions. [Yonhap]
The Butcher of the Cheonan is to visit New York and meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It seems whenever Kim Jong-un is serious about getting something done this is the thug he sends:
Kim Yong-chol
U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that North Korean vice chairman Kim Yong-chol is heading to New York as part of ongoing preparations for his talks with the communist country’s leader.
“We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York,” Trump said in a message posted on Twitter.
Calling the official’s visit to the U.S. a “solid response to my letter,” Trump said “thank you.”
Kim Yong-chol arrived in Beijing earlier in the day en route to the United States, with sources saying he is expected to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to get prepared for the high-stakes talks between Trump and Kim Jong-un. [Yonhap]
ROK Heads may remember that when Kim Yong-chol visited South Korea protesters tried to block his entry at the DMZ, but were foiled by ROK authorities. Human Rights group should go and protest against this guy in New York.
