Kim Yong-chol, the head
of North Korea's United Front Department, remained holed up in his hotel
room on Monday and met senior South Korean officials there.
Top
presidential security adviser Chung Eui-yong and other senior officials
had lunch and dinner with him behind closed doors at the Walkerhill
Hotel.
The government published no photographs of the meeting,
apparently wary of South Korean anger at Kim's visit since he
masterminded the 2010 sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan.
Security
was even tighter than for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister
Yo-jong when she came here to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter
Olympics. But during Kim Yo-jong's visit she went to Cheong Wa Dae and
attended a performance, and the government granted media access to all
events.
Kim was behind the torpedoing of the Cheonan as then
chief of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance. He and his entourage were
to remain holed up in the hotel until they head back to the North on
Tuesday. A former Unification Ministry official said, "The hotel
usually serves as the meeting place when a North Korean delegation comes
to South Korea. The North Koreans are able to communicate with
Pyongyang and with us in the hotel, so there is really no need to go
outside." The North Korean delegation occupies the entire 17th
floor of the upscale hotel, while the Unification Ministry is using the
16th floor and the National Intelligence Service takes up another two
floors for its agent
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