A senior North Korean official arrived in New York Wednesday to salvage a highly anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Yonhap reported.
Kim Yong-chol, a vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, arrived at JFK International Airport, becoming the highest-ranking North Korean to visit the U.S. since 2000.
He is due to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to finalize the details of what is expected to be a June 12 summit in Singapore between Trump and Kim on dismantling the North's nuclear weapons program.
Known as the North Korean leader's right-hand man, the former spy chief is expected to carry a personal letter from Kim amid reports of his commitment to denuclearization and a meeting with Trump.
The U.S. president called off the summit last week, citing Kim's "open hostility," but has since put it back on track following a conciliatory statement from the regime.
If held, the Trump-Kim meeting will be the first summit between the two countries that have long been at odds over the North's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, which are now believed to be capable of striking the U.S. mainland.
Officials from both sides have been scrambling to make the summit happen, with separate teams dispatched to the inter-Korean border and Singapore to discuss the substance of any denuclearization agreement and logistical issues, respectively.
In New York, Kim Yong-chol and Pompeo are expected to push for a deal that will satisfy U.S. demands for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) and North Korean demands for CVIG, where G stands for security guarantees for the regime.