Senior North Korean Diplomat Set To Talk With Pompeo in NY

A top North Korean advisor is on his way to New York Tuesday to re-engage in talks with U.S. officials, indicating that a summit may just happen between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next month.

RELATED: 
Moon: US-North Korea Summit Could 'End The History Of War'

In a tweet, Trump confirmed that Kim Yong Chol - vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee and former head of the North Korean intelligence agency who negotiated the two leader talks initially set for June - was confirmed to arrive in New York on Wednesday by White House officials.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea," Trump tweeted today.

"Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young (sic) Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!"

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders confirmed that Kim Yong Chol will meet with  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday. "The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trump’s expected summit with leader Kim in Singapore," Sanders told the media.

Though the spokesperson wouldn’t commit to saying the U.S.-North Korea summit was back on for June 12, Sanders did say that the president thinks "ongoing discussions are going very well." She was referring to weekend talks between U.S. and North Korean officials in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas, and in Singapore where the monumental meeting was set to take place.

RELATED: 
North Korea Dismantles Nuclear Site Amid Doubts over Summit

Trump wants the New York talks to focus on North Korea’s nuclear military program. Washington sees the country unilaterally denuclearizing, yet leader Kim Jong-un has insisted he won’t eliminate the program saying that it acts as a deterrent to the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed just across the border in U.S.-aligned South Korea.

However, last week as Trump essentially withdrew himself from the Singapore discussions, Pyongyang dismantled its important Punggye-ri nuclear test ground "to ensure the transparency to discontinue nuclear tests," said a state news agency.

Kim Yong Chol will be the most senior North Korean official to meet with White House officials since the Bill Clinton administration in 2000. He had been banned to enter the United States for supporting North Korea’s nuclear missile production but was granted special permission to travel in order to advance the talks.

Trump and Kim had engaged in heightened war rhetoric for the first several months of this year, yet in March Trump accepted Kim's invitation to meet.

Adding to the air of de-escalation, Kim has now met his South Korean counterpart, President Moon Jae-in twice within two months at the DMZ. Their April encounter was the first meeting in 10 years to take place between the leaders of the two nations.