With the second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump just around the corner,... our Kan Hyeong-woo takes a look at who will support the leaders in Hanoi.<br /> <br />North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump will surely be the faces of the upcoming Hanoi summit, grabbing all the limelight. <br />But it's their respective support teams that have led and will continue to hold working-level talks in the run up to the summit. <br /><br />Similar to the Singapore summit last June,... Vice Chairman of the Worker's Party of Korea Kim Yong-chol and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will serve as the top advisors for Kim Jong-un and President Trump, respectively. <br />North Korea's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Yong-ho and U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton will also again play a key role at the Hanoi summit. <br /><br />But in regards to the pre-summit negotiations,... there have been personnel changes on both sides. <br />North Korea's former ambassador to Spain Kim Hyok-chol has replaced the regime's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Sun-hui. <br />U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun has also taken over the role served by the U.S. Ambassdor to the Philippines Sung Kim in the run-up to the first summit.<br /><br />Photos suggest Kim Hyok-chol and Biegun are the negotiation channels that directly report to their respective leaders. <br />Both Kim and Biegun have met each other's leaders face-to-face,... indicating their messages have been clearly exchanged and understood. <br /><br />With no experience in leading North Korea-U.S. negotiations,... the pair are under pressure to break out of the unfruitful patterns seen over the past decades. <br /><br />The world will have to wait to see what kind of agreement comes out of the Hanoi summit,... but the outcome could determine whether the pairing of Kim Hyok-chol and Stephen Biegun will still be in place if President Trump and Kim Jong-un meet for a third time in the future. <br />Kan Hyeong-woo, Arirang News. <br />
