Mike Pompeo dined in New York City with a top North Korean official
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol, one of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's closest aides, had dinner together in New York on Wednesday night, ahead of meetings on Thursday.
Kim Yong Chol is the highest-ranking North Korean official to visit the United States in nearly two decades, CBS News reports. He's also a former military intelligence chief believed to be behind attacks in 2010 that killed 50 South Koreans. Kim and Pompeo are trying to revive the June 12 summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un, which Trump abruptly canceled last week after North Korea said it had no plans to give up its nuclear weapons. Since then, Trump has hinted the meeting could still take place.
South Korean media is speculating that Kim Yong Chol may have brought a personal letter from Kim Jong Un with him, and might try to get to Washington to meet with Trump. Kim Yong Chol is thought to have been the mastermind of the 2014 cyberattack on Sony Pictures, CBS News reports, and he has been sanctioned by the U.S. and South Korea.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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