A top North Korean official arrived in Beijing today, en route to Washington for talks with his US counterpart ahead of an expected summit between President Donald Trump and Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong Un. Media reports said, Kim Yong Chol, who is Kim’s right-hand man and the counterpart to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in denuclearisation talks, was seen getting into a vehicle at Beijing airport after flying in from Pyongyang.

The South’s Yonhap news agency reported that  Kim Yong Chol is expected to meet Mr Pompeo in Washington tomorrow. He will also pay a courtesy call on US President.

Kim’s trip comes as expectations grow for a second US-North Korean summit after Kim Jong Un last week’s visit to Beijing which is Pyongyang’s key ally, for talks with President Xi Jinping.

Observers say, the summit will probably be held in either Vietnam or Thailand. At their first meeting in Singapore last year, the two leaders signed a vaguely worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

But progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over what that means.