Dead or alive? Confusion on ‘executed’ envoy Kim Hyok-chol highlights mystery of North Korea

Sources say official who led talks in the run-up to February summit with Donald Trump remains alive despite execution claims

Confusion surrounding his fate is the latest example of conflicting reports on top officials in North Korea and highlights the difficulty of verifying information coming out of the secretive state

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Kim Hyok-chol in Hanoi in February. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:12pm, 4 Jun 2019Updated: 6:22pm, 4 Jun 2019

North Korea’s top nuclear envoy is alive but in custody and under investigation for his role in the failed Hanoi summit with the United States, CNN reported on Tuesday, contradicting a South Korean newspaper report claiming he had been executed.

Kim Hyok-chol, who led talks in the run-up to the February summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, had not been put to death as previously reported, the American network said, citing several unidentified sources.

On Friday the Chosun newspaper said the envoy had been executed in March, according to a single unnamed source.

Conflicting reports on North Korea are common given the difficulties verifying information coming out of the secretive state and a long history of erroneous reports of purges by its regime.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (centre) maintains an iron grip on the flow of people and information in and out of the country. Photo: AP

Pyongyang maintains an iron grip on the flow of people and information in and out of the country, and reports about the government’s inner workings, usually in South Korean or Japanese media, are often based on anonymous, unverifiable sources.