"Kim Hyok Chol was executed in March at Mirim Airport along with four senior foreign ministry officials following an investigation," the newspaper quoted an unidentified source as saying. Kim Hyok Chol was the North's counterpart of US special representative Stephen Biegun in the run-up to the Hanoi summit in February. Some previous South Korean reports of North Korean purges and executions have later proved inaccurate. Senior party official Kim Yong Chol, the North's counterpart to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in nuclear talks, was also sent to a labour camp, the paper said. And the Unification Ministry also mistakenly announced in February 2016 that Ri Yong Gil, chief of the general staff of the North Korean People's Army, had been executed.

Source: The Nation Bangkok May 31, 2019 05:26 UTC