Kim Jong-un’s right-hand man removed from N. Korea top post – report

North Korea has removed Kim Yong-chol, leader Kim Jong-un’s right-hand man and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s counterpart, from a top post, according to a South Korean parliament official. The move was reported by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency on Wednesday. Kim Yong-chol has been the head of the United Front Department, the North Korean Workers’ Party apparatus that handles ties with South Korea and increasingly with the US. Kim Yong-chol has been the country’s top envoy and was prominent at a second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Vietnam in February. The meeting broke down over disagreement on ending the North’s nuclear program. The envoy visited the White House in January to meet Trump. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service could not immediately confirm the report on the resignation, Reuters said. Kim Jong-un arrived in Vladivostok, in Russia’s Far East, on Wednesday for the first-ever meeting with President Vladimir Putin.