With less than a week to go before North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is set to meet US president Donald Trump in Vietnam, Kim has made drastic changes to his team of negotiators. The North Korean leader has sidelined various experienced diplomats in favor of a new generation of advisers that he apparently puts more trust in.
One of the most striking changes was the removal of Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui as lead negotiator and the appointment of a relatively unknown diplomat named Kim Hyok Chol in Choe’s place. A South Korean official explained to Reuters that “many diplomats are being neglected, as they face fierce inter-agency rivalry and questions about their ideological faithfulness given their experience in richer, capitalist nations.”
Read more: North Korea’s Kim shuffles nuclear talks team after defections, spying allegations
