U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, rear right, and Kim Yong-chol, center, a senior North Korean ruling party official and former intelligence chief, arrive for a meeting at the Park Hwa Guest House in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this July 2018 photo. Kim arrived in Beijing on Thursday, apparently on his way to Washington, D.C. for talks. AP file

A senior North Korean official arrived in Beijing on Thursday, apparently on his way to Washington, D.C. for talks.

Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, is expected to leave for the U.S. capital later in the day for a meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (Yonhap)