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National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon during a parliamentary audit on Nov. 4. (National Assembly photo pool)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have set a target of holding a third summit with the US in December, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on Nov. 4.

The information was reported by NIS Director Suh Hoon in a closed-door parliamentary audit at the agency’s offices in Seoul’s Naegok neighborhood that day, according to a briefing by Lee Hye-hoon, a Bareunmirae Party lawmaker and chairperson of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee.

“Based on North Korea’s stated goal of having a ‘North Korea-US summit within the year,’ the NIS reasonably inferred that it would be holding working-level negotiations through early December,” Lee said.

The NIS also reported that it had established North Korea and China to be in discussions on a visit to China by Kim for the 70th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations. The agency further concluded that if preparations for the North Korea-US summit go well, Kim appears likely to travel to China for related discussions as he has done in the past.

Commenting on First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui’s participation in the process of Kim ordering the demolition of facilities at Mt. Kumgang last month, the NIS concluded that the aim of the order “might be to pressure the US rather than South Korea,” according to Lee Eun-jae, the LKP’s secretary on the committee.

During the parliamentary audit that day, Intelligence Committee members posed questions on the super-large multiple rocket launcher tested by North Korea on Oct. 30. The NIS reportedly explained that the launcher was “determined to be identical to the launchers fired on Aug. 24 and Sept. 10” and that the launch “appeared to have been focused on testing rapid firing capabilities following examinations of its propulsion unit performance in August and precision guidance features in September.”

The NIS also reportedly determined that the new Pukguksong-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) tested by North Korea on Oct. 2 was a newly produced launch device with an improved warhead compared to previous Pukguksong missiles. Lawmaker Kim Min-ki reported that a “new submarine currently being built at North Korea’s Sinpo shipyard is a remodeled Romeo-class submarine capable of carrying an SLBM.”

“It has a full width of seven meters and full length of around 80 meters. The National Assembly is closely monitoring related activities due to the possibility of a test launch from the submarine once it has been launched,” Kim said.

Questions were also reportedly asked about remarks made during a Nov. 1 National Assembly Steering Committee audit by Blue House National Security Office Director Chung Eui-yong, who said it was “impossible to launch an ICBM from a transporter erector launcher (TEL).” Lee Eun-jae quoted Suh as explaining, “While there have been examples of TEL launches in the past, it is a fact that the recent issues with the launcher’s features have led to it being used only during movement, after which [missiles] have been placed on a stand for launch.”

“But the conclusion that North Korea seems to have the capabilities to launch an ICBM from a TEL’ as the Defense Intelligence Agency said is a separate issue [from that fact],” Suh was also reported as saying.

The NIS further predicted that Kim Pyong-il, North Korean ambassador to the Czech Republic, and Kim’s half-brother, would soon be replaced and return to North Korea. Since first being stationed in Hungary in 1988, Kim Pyong-il has been active for around three decades in Bulgaria, Poland, and the Czech Republic. The NIS also told the National Intelligence Committee there was a possibility that Kim Kwang-sop, the North Korean ambassador to Austria and husband of Kim Pyong-il’s older sister Kim Kyong-jin, would also be replaced and return alongside Kim.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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