Monday 3 June – DAILY NEWS SUMMARY
Pretoria News (www.pretorianews.co.za) Page 3 – City cuts fees for area barriers Page 5 – PSC urges clear directive on gifts
Page 12 – Country’s trade balance swings unexpectedly into deficit in April The Star (www.iol.co.za)
Page 1 – Major shake up for law degree
Page 3 – Chinese company helps ‘missing middle’ at Wits Page 3 – Vaal wine expo brings sip of winter cheer
Business Day (www.businesslive.co.za)
Page 2 – Quarterly GDP may have shrunk on load-shedding Page 3 – Councils beat revenue collection targets
Page 5 – Pentagon rejects hiding USS McCain as politicisation Citizen (www.citizen.co.za)
Page 2 – Beware false advertising in North West Page 9 – Picture: Standing proud (서울퀴어퍼레이드)
News24 (www.news24.co.za)
The North Korean official who handed Trump a ‘very nice’ appreciation letter
is reportedly now in a prison camp
B U S I N E S S I N S I D E R | T R E N D I N G
The North Korean official who handed Trump a 'very nice' appreciation letter is reportedly now in a prison camp
David Choi , Business Insider US May 31, 2019, 12:47 PM
President Donald Trump and Kim Yong Chol, the vice chairman of North Korea's ruling party's Central Committee.
Kim Yong Chol, a senior North Korean official who met President Donald Trump at the White House, was sentenced to hard labor and ideological "re-education," according to an unnamed North Korean source cited by the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.
Kim was part of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's entourage during the two US- North Korean summits.
An interpreter who allegedly made a critical interpretation error at the summit was also sentenced to prison after she was deemed to have "undermined" the regime's reputation.
Previous reporting on North Korean executions have been debunked.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
A senior North Korean official who met President Donald Trump at the White House last year was sentenced to hard labour and ideological "re-education," according to South Korean news organisation Chosun Ilbo.
Kim Yong Chol, the vice chairman of North Korea's ruling party's Central Committee and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's counterpart, received the sentencing as part of the regime's purge of top officials, The Ilbo reported, citing an unnamed North Korean source.
Kim was part of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's entourage during the two US-North Korean summits. He was photographed with Trump during talks in June 2018, where he was pictured delivering an oversized envelope and letter as symbolic gesture.
Trump described the letter as "very nice," though he admitted he had not yet opened it at the time.
In addition to Kim's sentencing, Kim Hyok Chol, the North Korean envoy leading the negotiations during the US-North Korea summit in Vietnam, was alleged to have spied for the US and was executed in March, The Ilbo reported.
An interpreter who allegedly made a critical interpretation error at the summit was also sentenced to prison after she was deemed to have "undermined" the regime's reputation.
Read more: Trump says he was defending Joe Biden when he called him a 'low IQ individual'
The suspected purge of officials comes amid the breakdown of negotiations between the US and North Korea, which Trump shrugged off as inconsequential. The Vietnam summit
abruptly ended without a deal due to disagreements on the easing of sanctions on North Korea and the dismantling of the country's nuclear facilities. Trump has since downplayed the stalemate and said he still had high hopes for the regime.
"My people think it could have been a violation," Trump said on Monday in response to North Korea's missile tests earlier in May. "I view it differently."
Other news organisations have not confirmed The Ilbo's reporting.
In 2013, North Korean singer and Kim Jong Un's purported ex-girlfriend Hyon Song-wol was misreported as having been executed by a machine-gun firing squad after making pornographic films. Five years later, Hyon led a North Korean delegation to South Korea during the Winter Olympics.
