Day of US-NKorea meetings to salvage summit on tap in NYC

By Josh Lederman, Matthew Lee and Christopher Bodeen Associated Press

Thursday, May 31, 2018 12:05 AM

NEW YORK (AP) Top American and North Korean officials plan a full day of meetings in New York aimed at deciding whether a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un can be salvaged.

Ahead of the meetings Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the North's former military intelligence chief, Kim Yong Chol, had dinner Wednesday night. Kim had flown in from Beijing and Pompeo from Washington.

The talks come as preparations for a highly anticipated summit in Singapore barrel ahead amid lingering uncertainty about whether it will actually take place, and when. Trump cancelled the June 12 summit last week, then suggested it could still happen.

U.S. teams have been meeting with North Korean officials in Singapore and in the heavily fortified Korean Demilitarized Zone.

Day of US-NKorea meetings to salvage summit on tap in NYC

North Korea's Kim Yong Chol, center, leaves a hotel in New York, Wednesday, May 30, 2018. The senior North Korean official arrived in New York on Wednesday in the highest-level official visit to the United States in 18 years, as President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un sought to salvage prospects for a high-stakes nuclear summit. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

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In this image made from video, Kim Yong Chol, center top, a senior North Korean official, walks across the tarmac at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport upon his arrival Wednesday, May 30, 2018. Kim is in New York for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo aimed at salvaging a summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, in the North's highest-level mission to the United States in 18 years. (AP Photo/Joe Frederick)

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Kim Yong Chol, left, a former military intelligence chief who is now North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's top official on inter-Korean relations, accompanied by North Korean Ambassador to China Ji Jae Ryong, second from left, arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, Wednesday, May 30, 2018. Kim Yong Chol was headed to New York for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

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Kim Yong Chol, foreground, a former military intelligence chief who is now North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's top official on inter-Korean relations, arrives at Beijing airport in Beijing Wednesday, May 30, 2018. Kim Yong Chol was headed to New York for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (Madoka Ikegami/Kyodo News via AP)

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FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2018, file photo, Kim Yong Chol, center, a vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, leaves to return to North Korea, at a hotel in Seoul, South Korea, (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

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FILE - In this May 9, 2018, file photo provided by the North Korean government, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a meeting at Workers' Party of Korea headquarters in Pyongyang, North Korea. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

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