‘Purged’ North Korean diplomat spotted near Kim Jong-un at event
● Official sitting five seats from leader at musical performance
A senior North Korean official who had been reported as being purged over the failed nuclear summit with Washington was shown in state media yesterday enjoying a concert near leader Kim Jong-un.
North Korean publications showed Kim Yong Chol sitting five seats away from a clapping Mr Kim in the same row along with other top officials during a musical performance by the wives of Korean People’s Army officers.
A report by Pyongyang’ s official Korean Central News Agency named Kim Yong Chol among the attendees of the event, which it said “impressively represented the ideo - logical and mental features of KPA officers’ wives, who make ever y moment of their life honourable with ardent yearning for the leader ”. Kim Yong Chol has been North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator and the counterpart of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo since Mr Kim entered nuclear talks with America early last year. He travelled to Washington and met US president Donald Trump twice before Mr Kim’s two summit s with Trump.
Negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have been at a standstill since February when the second summit between Mr Trump and Mr Kim broke down over what the US described as excessive Nor th Korean demands for sanctions relief in exchange for only a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.
Last week, South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilb o cited an unidentified source in reporting that Kim Yong Chol had been sentenced to hard labour and ideological re-education over the failed summit in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital.
The newspaper also reported senior envoy KimHyok Chol, who was involved in presummit working-level talks with American officials, was executed with four other officials from the North’s Foreign Ministry for betraying Mr Kim after being won over by the US.
South Korea’ s government and media have a mixed record on tracking develop - ments among Nor th Korea’s ruling elite, made difficult by Pyongyang’s stringent control of information about them.
Lee Sang-min, spokesman for Seoul’ s unification ministry that deals with inter- korean affairs, said the ministry would not comment on a “specific internal event in Nor th Korea or its participants” when asked about Kim Yong Chol’s reappearance in public. Seoul’s spy service has said it could not confirm Friday’s report of a possible purge.
Mr Pompeo said the US was “doing our best to check” out the report. The report came at a delicate time for diplo - macy as North Korea in past weeks has tested short-range missiles and issued belligerent rhetoric toward American and South Korean officials.