Replacement of North Korea’s top envoy for nuclear talks with US a ‘positive signal’, analysts say

Kim Yong-chol, a senior trusted official, has been sacked as the negotiator for nuclear talks with the US

But he is likely to retain his high standing in the Workers’ Party, analysts say, as the dismissal indicates diplomacy will be returned to the foreign ministry

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Kim Yong-chol was dismissed as the chief of the United Front Department. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:00pm, 25 Apr 2019Updated: 11:01pm, 25 Apr 2019

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has fired his top envoy for nuclear talks with the United States, blaming him for the collapse of the second Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi, a South Korean lawmaker said on Wednesday, citing security briefings.

Kim Yong-chol, the senior official who delivered Kim’s letters to Trump and has acted as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s counterpart, was dismissed as the chief of the United Front Department, said the head of the South Korean parliament’s intelligence committee Lee Hye-hoon.

The United Front Department is a division of the Workers’ Party tasked with handling inter-Korean affairs. Kim Yong-chol, a former general, had so far served as the top envoy in charge of both negotiations with Washington and exchanges with South Korea.

Kim Yong-chol and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Photo: Reuters

“We’ve been informed by the NIS that he has been replaced by Jang Kum-chol,” Lee told journalists, referring to the National Intelligence Service. “Kim Yong-chol was apparently held responsible for the failure of the Hanoi summit.”

The little-known Jang is reportedly in his late 50s and has spent his career working on civilian exchanges between the two Koreas.

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