폼페이오 "비건 새 카운터파트 지명돼" 언급 주목…김혁철 관측

Pyeongyang appears to have changed the official in charge of handling working-level negotiations with the United States.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Washington's special representative for North Korea had the opportunity to meet with his "newly designated counterpart", and that they discussed some of the issues towards fulfilling the Singapore Declaration.
Stephen Biegun had his first face-to-face with the regime's vice foreign minister Choe Son-hui in Sweden just a few days ago.
Many saw Choe as his counterpart, but they only met recently, despite Biegun being appointed last August.
South Korean media outlets speculate the new official could be Kim Hyok-chol..., the North's former Ambassador to Spain.
According to Yonhap News he is likely to have had the chance to get to know his American counterpart recently, while visiting Washington as part of a North Korean delegation.