North Korea 'executed' officials after failed Donald Trump summit

Believed to be North Korean negotiator Kim Hyok Chol (second from left) after arriving from Pyongyang. Pic/AFP

Seoul: North Korea executed its special envoy to the United States following the collapse of the second summit between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump, a South Korean newspaper reported on Friday.

The Chosun Ilbo said Kim Hyok Chol, who laid the groundwork for the Hanoi meeting and accompanied Kim on his private train, was executed by firing squad for "betraying the supreme leader" after he was "won over to the US" during pre-summit negotiations. "Kim Hyok Chol was executed in March at Mirim Airport along with four senior foreign ministry officials following an investigation," the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

Asked about the account, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was trying to verify it. "We've seen the reporting to which you're referring. We're doing our best to check it out," he told reporters on a visit to Berlin. "I don't have anything else to add to that today." Kim Hyok Chol was the North's counterpart of US special representative Stephen Biegun in the run-up to the Hanoi summit in February.

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