Top NK official in US for talks

Discreet visit seen as precursor to summit

A top North Korean general paid a rare visit Friday to Washington and was expected to finalize a new summit aimed at denuclearization and easing decades of hostility.

Kim Yong-chol, a right-hand man to leader Kim Jong-un, is the first North Korean dignitary in nearly two decades known to have spent the night in the US capital, little more than a year after Trump was threatening to wipe the state off the map.

Under light snow, Kim and his entourage were seen exiting a motorcade and without comment entering a fashionable hotel in the lively Dupont Circle neighborhood, where he was expected to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Neither side has publicly announced the visit.

But Trump has voiced optimism after receiving what he called a warm New Year’s letter from Kim Jong-un and has opined that the two leaders are “in love.”

Trump has repeatedly voiced eagerness to see Kim Jong-un again after their landmark summit in Singapore last year, the first meeting ever between sitting leaders from the two countries that never formally ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Tensions began to abate a year ago with the encouragement of South Korea’s dovish government. Trump has repeatedly hailed his diplomacy as a triumph, recently saying there would have been “a nice big fat war in Asia” if it were not for him.

He has said to expect an announcement soon about the second summit, with diplomats seeing Vietnam and Thailand as possible venues.

For Trump, the made-for-television summitry with the young North Korean leader also offers a welcome respite from the steady negative headlines at home.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is probing whether Trump’s presidential campaign colluded with Russia, and his insistence that Congress fund a wall on the Mexican border has shuttered the US government for nearly a month.

For Kim, the stakes are more existential as he seeks guarantees of the survival of his regime.

In Singapore, Kim promised his “unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”

But the two sides appear to have different ideas on how to define that.

Pompeo in a recent interview voiced hope at reaching a deal with North Korea that would “create a much better, safer America.”

But he also cautioned that it was unlikely to be finished during the next summit.