[Photo] Kim Yong-chol set to fly to New York to meet with Pompeo

Proceeding with last-minute negotiations prior to the North Korea-US summit tentatively scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, North Korean vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) Kim Yong-chol flew to Beijing on May 29 and is also set to fly to New York on May 30 to meet with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, presumably to negotiate last-minute deals regarding the summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un. Kim Yong-chol was the chief North Korean negotiator during inter-Korean military talks held on the South Korean side of Panmunjeom in Oct. 2014 and will be the most high-profile North Korean official to visit the US since 2000, when defense commission first vice chairman Jo Myong Rok met with then President Bill Clinton as part of Kim Jong-il’s special envoy.