North Korea executes 5 officials over failed Kim-Trump summit

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly ordered the execution of several top officials in March after they were unable to reach an agreement with President Trump at a second summit between the two leaders earlier this year. 

Bloomberg News reported Thursday citing a South Korean newspaper that Kim Hyok Chol, North Korea's special envoy to the U.S., was executed in March along with four other North Korean foreign ministry officials involved in the February summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.

A fifth official, Kim Jong Un’s top deputy, Kim Yong Chol, has reportedly been sentenced to hard labor.

Kim Yong Chol has been North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator and the counterpart of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo since Kim entered nuclear talks with the U.S. early last year.

An unnamed North Korean source told the Chosun Ilbo newspaper that Kim Yong Chol and four other officials were executed at a North Korean airport for allegedly spying on behalf of the U.S.

“Kim Hyok Chol was investigated and executed at Mirim Airport with four foreign ministry officials in March,” the source said.