North Korea appoints former ambassador as new point man in US negotiations: report

North Korea has reportedly appointed a former ambassador to head denuclearization talks with the U.S., a diplomatic source in South Korea told Reuters on Friday. 

The source reportedly told the new organization that the North Koreans told the Americans at their Sunday meeting that former ambassador to Vietnam Kim Myong Gil would become a courterpart to U.S. Special Representative Stephen Biegun.

{mosads}South Korean media, also citing anonymous diplomatic sources, reported Thursday that Kim Myong Gil would take on the role previously held by Kim Hyok Chol, who was Biegun’s counterpart at the U.S.-North Korea summit in Vietnam that failed to produce a deal between the countries.  

During their Sunday meeting, President Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un agreed to start talks on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. 

“Speed is not the object. We want to see if we can do a really comprehensive, good deal,” Trump told reporters. “This was a great day. This was a very legendary, very historic day.”

According to Reuters, he also said that Kim was putting someone in charge of the negotiations “who we know and like”, but did not name the person.

Leaders from the two countries previously met in February, but negotiations broke down.