New North Korea nuclear envoy in spotlight

Kim Myong-gil, a former North Korean ambassador to Vietnam, is seen behind North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Feb. 26 during the latter's visit to Hanoi for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. Yonhap

By Lee Min-hyung

Kim Myong-gil

Kim Myong-gil, a former North Korean ambassador to Vietnam, is coming to the forefront as a highly probable figure to lead the North's delegation for the upcoming working-level discussions with the United States.

As a replacement for Kim Hyok-chol, Kim is expected to make his international debut soon as Pyongyang's new point man for nuclear dialogue, according to North Korean watchers in Seoul, Sunday. He will be in talks with U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun to lay the new groundwork for the upcoming meeting, they said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier he expected working-level discussions with North Korea over the country's nuclear program to resume in mid-July.

The latest in a series of signals hinting at the mood came on Sunday when the South's foreign ministry said its nuclear envoy, Lee Do-hoon, will kick off his four-day trip to Germany on Tuesday for meetings with Biegun on the North's denuclearization talks. U.S. State Department said the meeting is aimed at advancing their “shared efforts to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea.” Sweden and other European countries are tapped as possible venues for North Korea-United States discussions.

Lee and Biegun will discuss possible key topics and locations for the upcoming talks between the U.S. and the North. The Lee-Biegun meeting came after U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to resume nuclear diplomacy at their de-facto “third summit” in the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjeom.

Political analysts said Biegun's new North Korean counterpart is asked to outline the main substance of the conversation as the North Korean leader Kim was wishing to get something done in a timely way since the breakdown in Hanoi. President Trump said Washington was in no rush.

Still, Washington and Hanoi didn't have a shared agreement on the definition of denuclearization raising expectations the new round of U.S.-North Korea talks won't start from “square one.”

Expectations were that the North's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, who still stood at the forefront at the Panmunjeom encounter, would be named as Biegun's new counterpart.

But they said Kim Myong-gil is highly likely to take the central role considering his expertise in nuclear negotiations. Choe, however, is widely seen to take a back-office role in handling overall management and outlining strategies of the delegation by supervising him.

Kim Myong-gil took office as the North's ambassador to Vietnam in August 2015 and left the post in this April. In particular, he worked as a key envoy there to assist Kim Jong-un and his delegation during the Hanoi summit, February. The North Korean diplomat is known as one of the hidden forces in handling key affairs on North Korea nuclear issues.

For three years from 2006, he had worked as a North Korean envoy to the United Nations. His career also includes being the North's representative during the failed six-party nuclear disarmament talks, multinational dialogues first held in 2003 and discontinued in 2009 without providing a peaceful resolution to the North Korea nuclear crisis.

Experts said both sides will likely take a more flexible attitude in their working-level talks, as they do not want a repeat of the Hanoi failure.

“Even if North Korea names the key man for the working-level talks, this will not affect much regarding its negotiating strategies. This is because he is unlikely to be able to exercise enough discretionary power in consideration of the North's top-down culture,” said a political analyst in Seoul.

“Currently, we need to wait and see, as no clear movement from the two sides has been detected. The German capital of Berlin where Biegun and Lee will meet with others can also be a possible candidate.”