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North Korea’s nuclear envoys apparently not executed or sent to labour re-education camp, as previously reported

N.Korea shows former top nuclear envoy, Canberra Times, Joyce Lee , 3June 19

North Korea’s former top nuclear envoy, Kim Yong-chol, accompanied leader Kim Jong Un to an art performance, state news agency KCNA said on Monday, signalling that the former spymaster is alive and remains a force in the power structure.

Sunday’s appearance followed conflicting reports of shake-ups in the team that led engagement with the United States last year, only for nuclear talks to collapse after Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump failed to strike a pact at a February summit…….

On Friday, South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo had said Kim Yong-chol, the leader’s right-hand man and a counterpart of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo before the failed summit, had been sent to a labour and re-education camp, citing an unidentified North Korean source.

Asked on Sunday about the last US contact with Kim Yong-chol and North Korea in general, Pompeo declined to answer, saying, “We conduct our negotiations in private.”

Asked about reports of a “shake-up” of Kim’s negotiating team in a May 5 interview with ABC News, Pompeo said it did appear that his future counterpart would be somebody else, adding: “But we don’t know that for sure.”……..

As Kim Jong-un’s point man for the nuclear talks, Kim Yong-chol was stripped of a key party post in apparent censure for the summit’s collapse, a South Korean lawmaker said in April.

That move may have cleared the way for long-time diplomats sidelined during last year’s process to take centre stage if talks with the United States resumed, analysts said…….

The Chosun Ilbo report, which Reuters was unable to confirm independently, also said North Korea executed its working-level nuclear envoy to the United States, Kim Hyok-chol. …..

Some officials who worked with Kim Yong-chol have been out of the public eye since the summit. But other seasoned diplomats who appeared to have been sidelined, including Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, were seen returning to the spotlight. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6195440/nkorea-shows-former-top-nuclear-envoy/

June 4, 2019 - Posted by | North Korea, politics

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