Trump announces meeting with Kim Yong-chol in Washington, DC

Workers’ Party of Korea vice chairman and United Front Department director Kim Yong-chol (second from right) and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (left) raise their glasses during dinner at the Manhattan residence of the US’s deputy ambassador to the UN on May 30. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Korea Mission Center head Andrew Kim (second from left) accompanied Pompeo on the US side. (provided by the US State Department)

Meeting indicates Kim and Pompeo found common ground

The prospects for an upcoming North Korea-US summit appear brighter after US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement on May 31 that he would be meeting in Washington, DC, on June 1 with a North Korean delegation headed by Workers’ Party of Korea vice chairman and United Front Department director Kim Yong-chol, which had been in the US for a two-day visit.

The question of whether Kim would hold a meeting with Trump had been seen as a measure of the outcome for last-minute high-level talks between the two sides, with less than two weeks remaining before the originally scheduled June 12 date for the summit in Singapore. The White House may be the site for Trump’s meeting with Kim.

Kim’s visit had originally been limited to a two-day stay in New York on May 30 and 31. The situation stands in contrast with 2000, when then-National Defense Commission first vice chairman Jo Myong-rok visited the White House to meet with President Bill Clinton and discuss normalizing bilateral relations.

Analysts had speculated the reason Kim did not go to Washington was because the US held out few definite hopes for results from his visit – suggesting that Kim’s talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had not allayed concerns that no definite results would emerge in terms of the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) demanded by the US. With Trump scheduled to visit Houston on May 31 for a rally, some suggested the chances of a meeting were effectively nil.

But with Trump stating his hopes that Kim will extend his US visit to come to Washington and deliver a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, analysts are now saying the two sides may have found common ground. Trump voiced hopes for the content of Kim Jong-un’s letter, suggesting it represents a “very positive” development. The situation has raised speculation that Trump may have already heard about the letter’s content from Pompeo. If true, that could mean Kim’s letter included a message offering something along the same lines as the swift and complete denuclearization the US wants. Trump also said he hoped to meet with Kim as scheduled on June 12, expressing hopes for a “meaningful” meeting.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (center) points out the window at the New York skyline during his dinner meeting with Workers’ Party of Korea vice chairman and United Front Department director Kim Yong-chol (left) on May 30. (provided by the US State Department)

These remarks alone are not enough to gauge how definite an agreement the North Korea-US talks have produced. While sharing his hopes for the summit, Trump also said, “It doesn't mean it gets all done in one meeting. Maybe you have to have a second or third, and maybe we'll have none.” The remarks suggested a segue into Trump’s characteristic pressure tactics to demand additional concessions from the North.

Meanwhile, Kim Yong-chol and Pompeo continued their official talks into May 31 as they sought out common ground between North Korea’s demands for regime security guarantees and incremental measures and the US’s calls for “denuclearization first.”

Workers’ Party of Korea vice chairman and United Front Department director Kim Yong-chol arrives in New York and heads into his hotel in Midtown, Manhattan, on May 30. (Reuters)

At 7 pm the previous evening, the two sat down for a working dinner at the Manhattan residence of the US’s deputy ambassador to the UN. Photographs shared by the State Department after the 90-minute dinner suggest the meeting took place fairly high up in the over 50-story building. In the images, Pompeo can be seen pointing outside the window as he appears to explain something to Kim. Other photos show the four attendees smiling and toasting at the table, as well as a menu signed by Kim and Pompeo.

Notably, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Korea Mission Center head Andrew Kim, who met with Kim Jong-un alongside Pompeo on May 9, was present on the US side. After finishing the meal of US steak and Islay whisky, Pompeo tweeted, “Good working dinner” – suggesting the discussions went smoothly.

Analysts suggested the choice of a US diplomat’s residence in the high-rise Corinthian Condominium as a dinner venue may have been made to use the New York skyline to allude indirectly to the “bright future” for North Korea if it gives up its nuclear program.

In a briefing, a senior State Department official said the US would gladly provide North Korea with the regime security guarantees it feels it needs and help it achieve greater economic prosperity, but added that it must denuclearize first.

By Yi Yong-in, reporting from New York, and Hwang Joon-bum, staff reporter

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