North Korea's top nuclear negotiator is now in Washington, carrying a letter from the regime's leader.
At the same time, the North's vice foreign minister is in Europe.
The North Korean leader's right-hand man was spotted arriving in Beijing on Thursday afternoon.
He caught a plane bound for Washington in the evening and is set to land there on Thursday evening, local time.
Kim will stay overnight in Washington – the first such case for a North Korean official since 2000 – and meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday.
It is likely that he will meet President Trump too, as according to CNN, he is carrying Kim Jong-un's letter to Trump – a reply to Trump's letter that was delivered last weekend.
This comes as North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui has arrived in Sweden.
She previously told reporters she was attending an international conference in the Scandinavian country.
But as she's North Korea's U.S. expert
and one of the key figures related to the nuclear negotiations, observers say she could meet U.S. officials in Stockholm.
The Washington Post reports if the high-level talks go well between Kim Yong-chol and Mike Pompeo, U.S. officials are expecting Choe Son-hui and U.S. nuclear envoy Stephen Biegun to meet for the first time in Sweden.
It added that the time and location of the second North Korea-U.S. summit could be announced as soon as Friday, and it says the summit is likely to be held in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang in March or April.
Asked if the State Department had plans to announce any meetings involving the visiting official, a spokesperson said there were no meetings to announce.
On the day North Korea's Kim Yong-chol is set to arrive in Washington, the latest U.S. missile defense strategy report
has labeled the regime an ongoing and dangerous threat.
Unveiled by President Trump at the Pentagon on Thursday, he did not mention the North Korea missile threat in his remarks, but the Missile Defense Review calls on the U.S. to "remain vigilant" as North Korea "continues to pose an extraordinary threat."
The document also calls for reviewing the possibility of space-based sensors and missile interceptors.
It was reported that South Korea's intelligence chief Suh Hoon visited Washington last week, ahead of this Friday's talks between North Korea and the U.S.
Diplomatic sources familiar with the matter said that the director of Seoul's National Intelligence Service visited the U.S. capital Sunday last week and met with CIA chief Gina Haspel.
No other information was provided about what was discussed.
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