North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol arrives at a hotel in New York Thomson Reuters By Rodrigo Campos and Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A senior North Korean official made a rare visit to the United States on Wednesday for talks about a possible summit between the leaders of the two countries but the sides appeared far apart on the central issue of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons. President Trump huddled with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the White House on Wednesday to fine tune their strategy ahead of the top diplomat’s dinner meeting with Gen. Kim Yong-chol, the highest-ranking North Korean official to visit the U.S. in 18 years. The White House said on Wednesday that negotiations at the demilitarized zone along the border between North and South Korea for the summit were going well and that it expects the historic meeting to take place on June 12. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had a working dinner on Wednesday in New York City with top North Korean aide Kim Yong-chol. The dinner meeting in Manhattan was part of a string of talks taking place in New York, Panmunjom and Singapore to set up a likely June 12 summit between Mr. Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
Top North Korean official Kim Yong-chol meets with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York City to discuss the summit set to be held in June.