North Korea's Kim replaces key diplomats ahead of Trump summit

[left-of-center2012]

Source: The Hill

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has shuffled some of his top advisers and diplomats ahead of next week's meeting with President Trump in Vietnam, Reuters reported Wednesday. Trump is set to travel to Hanoi, Vietnam, for a summit with Kim on Feb. 27 and 28.

One of the most notable changes is Kim's appointment of Kim Hyok Chol to lead working-level talks with U.S. nuclear envoy Stephen Biegun, Reuters reported. Kim Hyok Chol was expelled as ambassador to Spain in 2017 and has since worked at North Korea's State Affairs Commission, according to the report. Kim Hyok Chol replaces Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, who led talks ahead of Trump and Kim's first meeting last June.

The meeting comes amid an ongoing push from the U.S. to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, though Trump indicated he would not put a timetable on those negotiations.

"I’d just like to see, ultimately, denuclearization of North Korea," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "I think we will see that ultimately. I have no pressing time schedule.

I think a lot of people would like to see it go very quickly from the other side."

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/international/430709-north-koreas-kim-replaces-key-diplomats-ahead-of-trump-summit

[Raven]

1. Did they shoot the people they let go?

[left-of-center2012]

2. I wondered the same thing.

[olegramps]

3. Its called permanent retirement; like dead.

[Marcuse]

5. Saves on the pension budget.

[allgood33]

6. Scary to think about how much damage 45 can on his way out. He's vindictive enough to do us harm

as he must be considering that he may go to jail as a private citizen. Certainly, lhe knows his brand has been irreparably damaged a he has been expoused as a huge scam artist and a functional illiterate.