美국무부 "비건, 오늘 하노이로 출발"...北김혁철 베이징 도착…의제협의 재개 임박
Our starting point is the ongoing preparations for the hotly anticipated meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Some speculate working-level negotiators could hold talks at the summit host city, Hanoi tomorrow.
Lee Ji-won has our top story.
North Korea's Special Representative for U.S. Affairs, Kim Hyok-chol, is expected to have landed in Hanoi.
Seoul-based news agency YTN reported that Kim is known to have taken the 3-thirty afternoon plane from Beijing, and is set to arrive in Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport at around 6-thirty in the evening, local time.
He spent the night over in his stop-over Beijing, possibly to time his arrival with his U.S. counterpart.
The U.S. State Department also said Stephen Biegun, Washington's special representative for North Korea, was already on his way to Hanoi Tuesday afternoon.
There is no direct flight from Washington to Hanoi, so Biegun is expected to transfer in Tokyo, Beijing or Hong Kong.
It's hard to say when he'll arrive, but U.S. officials were seen at the VIP terminal in Noi Bai International Airport from early Wednesday morning... prompting speculation that Biegun could also arrive on Wednesday.
This would mean the two working-level officials could meet as early as Thursday.
While Kim and the regime's protocol chief flew to Hanoi, local media raised the possibility of Kim Jong-un coming over by train.
Tuoi Tre, citing an unnamed source, said the Vietnamese authorities visited the border province of Lang Son for Kim's travel from North Korea through China.
But because it's a travel of at least two and a half days, the media said it's just one of the possibilities and that the final decision is up to Kim Jong-un to make.
New projections are also stemming over the summit venue.
While Vietnam's National Convention Center was widely viewed as the summit venue, local sources say North Koreans rejected the idea as it is too big, which complicates and hinders security,... and is too far from their lodging location.
The center is just a five-minute walk from President Trump's likely hotel, JW Marriott,... while it is a 30 minute car-ride distance from Kim Jong-un's likely hotel, Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi.
The newly eyed venue, seems to be Hanoi Opera House where the protocol chiefs of both sides had convened last week.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.
