Kim Jong-un rejected the head of negotiations between North Korea and the United States

South Korean intelligence reported that Kim Yong-chol, key figure in the dialogue between Korea North and USA, He was replaced at the head of the United Front Department, the body of the Workers Party that manages relations with Seoul and Washington.

The supposed substitute of Kim is Jang Kum-cholLee Hye-hoon, a member of the intelligence committee of the South Korean National Assembly, told the agency on Wednesday. Yonhap after receiving information from the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

Kim is considered a key figure in the negotiations that led to the two denuclearization summits that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump have maintained until now.

The 73-year-old North Korean senior official visited Washington twice to meet State Secretary Mike Pompeo (whom he has received several times in Pyongyang and with whom he has he would have bad relations), and Trump himself before these two historic highs.

Although it is not known if his replacement will affect his role in the dialogue with the United States, Kim Yong-chol did not travel in the suite that accompanied Kim Jong-a Wednesday to Vladivostok Meeting Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which has sparked speculation about his situation.

This is the first time that Kim Yong-chol does not accompany the North Korean leader during one of his trips abroad.

Jang Kum Chol, elected to replace him, was appointed earlier this month to head the Central Committee Department of the Workers' Party.

The alleged replacement of Kim Yong-chol comes after the failure of the Hanoi summit, in which Korea The North and the United States could not agree on a denuclearization process.

Last week, Pyongyang asked Washington to replace Pompeo, whom he accuses of torpedoing the dialogue, as the interlocutor.

The regime is trying to pressure the White House to abandon the so-called "big deal" it has proposed in Hanoi, which calls for the elimination of all North Korean weapons programs, in addition to the atomic program. .

Pyongyang is proposing progressive disarmament accompanied by a gradual lifting of the severe sanctions that are strangling its economy.