Trump meets with Kim Yong-chol at White House for 90 minutes

Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) Vice Chairman Kim Yong-chol (circled) heads to the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, DC, after his meeting with US President Donald Trump on Jan. 18. (Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent)

Sanders says 2nd North Korea-US summit will be held in end of February

US President Donald Trump held a 90-minute meeting with Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and director of the WPK’s United Front Department, at the White House on Jan. 18. Immediately following this meeting, the White House announced that the second summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will be taking place at the end of February.

In a press statement released on Friday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that Trump and Kim Yong-chol met for an hour and that the two people had discussed denuclearization and a second summit to be held “near the end of February.” Sanders added that Trump “looks forward to a second summit with Chairman Kim. Location will be announced at a later date.” In short, the two sides have only confirmed that the summit will be held at the end of February for now and intend to announce the specific date and location later.

Trump met with Kim Yong-chol at the Oval Office in the White House at 12:15 pm for a discussion that lasted about 90 minutes. Kim Yong-chol appears to have delivered a personal letter from Kim Jong-un to Trump.

Prior to that meeting, Kim Yong-chol and Pompeo met at the Dupont Circle Hotel in central Washington, where Kim is staying during his visit, for high-level talks that began at 11 am and lasted for around 40 minutes. The talks were attended by Kim Song-hye, head of the Secretarial Bureau of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRK), and Choe Kang-il, acting director-general for North American affairs at the North's Foreign Ministry, and by State Department Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Biegun, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Alex Wong, and acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mark Lambert on the US side.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (right) exits the Dupont Circle Hotel after his meeting with WPK Vice Chairman Kim Yong-chol on Jan. 17. (Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent)

After those talks, Kim and Pompeo traveled to the White House for the meeting with Trump. At around 2 pm, Kim and Pompeo returned to the Dupont Circle Hotel for a lunch together that lasted around an hour and a half. Pompeo left the hotel around 3:30 pm.

Kim previously departed Beijing on United Airlines Flight 808 from Beijing on Jan. 17, arriving at Dulles Airport near Washington at 6:32 the same evening.

Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) Vice Chairman Kim Yong-chol (circled) heads to the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, DC, after his meeting with US President Donald Trump on Jan. 18. (Hwang Joon-bum)

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

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