N. Korea's new espionage chief seen accompanying leader Kim on DMZ trip: sources

SEOUL, July 1 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's new espionage agency chief was confirmed on Monday to have accompanied leader Kim Jong-un on his recent visit to the border village of Panmunjom for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. Sources said that a person seen standing next to North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui in a photo taken by South Korean press was Jang Kum-chol, chief of the United Front Department (UFD). He was one of the North Korean officials who accompanied leader Kim on his visit to Panmunjom on Sunday for the historic meeting with Trump. It was the first time Jang had been spotted in public since Seoul's intelligence agency said in April that he had replaced Kim Yong-chol as new head of the UFD. Kim Yong-chol was the North's top negotiator in denuclearization talks with the U.S., serving as the counterpart of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. His replacement spawned speculation that he was held responsible for the breakdown of the February summit between leader Kim and Trump. Jang is barely known to the outside world. He is reportedly in his late 50s and has a career of working for exchanges between the two Koreas. His name was first mentioned by North Korean media in April, when it was reported that he was appointed a director at the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). The UFD is known as a powerful intelligence arm of the regime dealing with relations with South Korea and the U.S. Since the no-deal summit in February, however, experts say that its function could be confined to inter-Korean affairs. It is not clear whether Jang contacted South Korean officials during his Panmunjom trip on Sunday. kokobj@yna.co.kr (END)