Korea

Mystery CIA Officer Thrust Into Spotlight as Korea Summit Looms

The lightning diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea before next week’s historic summit has thrust a little-known CIA officer into an uncomfortably public role as a key intermediary in talks between the two adversaries.

After years working on North Korea at the Central Intelligence Agency, Andrew Kim has been thrust into the spotlight accompanying Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in key meetings with Pyongyang officials. He took part in President Donald Trump’s Oval Office meeting with a senior North Korean envoy last week and has helped prepare the president for his June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

The unusual public role has given Kim, who was raised in South Korea, extraordinary influence over the administration’s approach to the summit and the North Korean nuclear threat more broadly. Just as Pompeo has become Trump’s right-hand man on the Korean talks, twice meeting with Kim Jong Un this year, Andrew Kim has found himself in a similar role for the secretary of state.