Senior North Korea official heads to White House as summit pace picks up

NEW YORK – North Korea’s longtime spy chief and main negotiator will meet President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday as high-level talks in New York wrapped up with growing signs that the stalled nuclear disarmament summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will take place in less than two weeks.

Kim Yong Chol, a four-star general who is one of North Korea’s most powerful figures, will deliver a letter to Trump from Kim Jong Un, Trump told a group of reporters.

“I look forward to seeing what’s in the letter,” Trump said. Asked if a deal was coming together, he said: “I think it will be very positive . ... The meetings have been very positive.”

Wrapping up about four hours of meetings with Gen. Kim in New York, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said details for the proposed summit could be finalized in “days.” Planning for the summit, originally scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, has intensified this week in a flurry of meetings in New York, Singapore and in the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas.

“It would be nothing short of tragic to let this opportunity to go to waste,” Pompeo told reporters in New York.

“We can create a future defined by collaboration and friendship,” he added.

He conceded that the two sides still have not determined what steps they must take to satisfy the U.S. demand for denuclearization and North Korea’s demand for ironclad security guarantees and easing of sanctions.