N. Korean envoy arrives in Beijing, en route to Hanoi ahead of Trump-Kim summit – report

The North Korean special representative for the US arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, apparently en route to Vietnam to meet his Washington counterpart ahead of a second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, Yonhap reported. Kim Hyok-chol arrived in the Chinese capital at around 10am (0200 GMT) and was expected to board a plane bound for Hanoi later in the day. His trip comes three days after Kim Jong-un’s de-facto chief of staff, Kim Chang-son, landed in Hanoi to discuss protocol and security matters with the US team ahead of the February 27-28 summit. Kim Hyok-chol and his US counterpart Stephen Biegun held three days of talks in Pyongyang earlier this month, exploring each side’s positions on denuclearization ahead of the summit, AFP said.