A senior North Korean official and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have sat down for talks in New York. 

The working dinner came hours after Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee and a member of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s inner circle, arrived at JFK International Airport at around 2 p.m. Wednesday local time. 

The dinner meeting is expected to focus on the final coordination of the agenda for the highly anticipated U.S.-North Korea summit, including details related to the North's denuclearization and U.S. security assurances. 

There is speculation that if the meeting ends successfully, the North Korean official may pay a visit to U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington as a special envoy and deliver a letter from Kim. 

Earlier in the day, the U.S. State Department had said that Pompeo will have a working dinner with Kim at 7 p.m. Wednesday in New York before holding official talks on Thursday to coordinate the agenda for the summit between their leaders. 

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders also said that the two planned a "day full of meetings" on Thursday.

Kim is the highest-ranking North Korean to visit the U.S. since 2000.

[Photo : KBS News]