"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
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.
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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.
Riyadh rallies allies against Tehran
Gulf and Arab allies rallied around Saudi Arabia on Friday as it ratcheted up tensions with regional rival Iran after a series of attacks, drawing accusations from Tehran of "sowing division". Tehran, which has strongly denied involvement in any of the attacks, expressed disappointment that Riyadh plans to level the same "baseless accusations" at a summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) early on Saturday.
Iran rejects US Mideast peace plan
Thousands of Iranians joined annual rallies in support of the Palestinian cause on Friday, rejecting a US peace plan Donald Trump has dubbed the "deal of the century". The Quds (Jerusalem) Day commemorations were launched by Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
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