A senior United States Central Intelligence Agency official in charge of Korean affairs reportedly paid a secret visit to South Korea this week to hold talks with North Korean officials at the border truce village of Panmunjeom.
 
According to sources familiar with the matter on Saturday, Andrew Kim, head of the CIA's Korea Mission Center, was in Seoul for a four-day visit that started Wednesday, and has returned to the United States after holding talks with officials from both sides.
 
Kim, a Korean-American, is known as a close aide of U.S.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and has participated in most high-level talks between Washington and Pyongyang this year.
 
Kim's secret visit is thought to have been aimed at narrowing the differences between Washington and Pyongyang over the process for the North's denuclearization ahead of possible talks between Pompeo and Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea later this month.