U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, Korea, June 30, 2019.REUTERS/YONHAP
South Korea's intelligence agency said that it has detected signs of dialogue between North Korea and the United States in a post-plenary session briefing on Tuesday and that a summit between the two could take place at any time.
"In regards to a North Korea-U.S. summit, there was an analysis that it has to be seen as possible at any time," said ruling Democratic Party (DP) Rep. Youn Kun-young.
Youn and main opposition People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Yoo Yeong-ha, the two parties' ranking members on the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee, relayed the National Intelligence Service (NIS)briefing to reporters after the closed-door session.
"The NIS said that nothing has been confirmed on specific contacts between the North and the United States, but that there are signs of dialogue," Youn said.
During the briefing, the NIS also told the committee that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's daughter Kim Ju-ae has effectively entered the stage of being designated as his successor.
"On why Kim Ju-ae is appearing in the media so often, [the NIS] sees her as having effectively entered the stage of being designated successor," Youn said. "It believes the purpose may be to imprint her on the North Korean public as a leader."
North Korean state media has steadily given the likely successor more exposure this year. It has shown her firing a weapon, driving a new main battle tank and, on July 28, carried images of her attending an event marking the 73rd anniversary of what the North calls its Victory Day alongside her father.
The agency initially reached the conclusion in April. Asked at a committee session whether it was right to regard Kim Ju-ae as the successor, NIS Director Lee Jong-seok confirmed the assumption.
"I think it is fine to see her as the successor," Lee Jong-seok said, according to Rep. Lee Seong-kweun, then the opposition's ranking member on the committee. "This is not a judgment based on circumstances alone. It is based on credible intelligence."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter Kim Ju-ae watch a performance by the National Acrobatic Troupe marking the 81st anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, at the Pyongyang Circus Theatre on Aug. 16, in a photo released by the North's Rodong Sinmun.NEWS1
President Lee Jae Myung used his Aug. 15 Liberation Day address to propose dialogue among directly concerned parties on ending the 1950-53 Korean War. Youn said the NIS reported, however, that it has had no dialogue or contact of its own on that front so far.
He added the committee also inquired about the chances of North Korea sending more troops to the war in Ukraine.
"The NIS answered to the effect that the possibility is markedly low while the North is in a phase of dialogue with U.S. President Donald Trump, but that it is fluid depending on how the situation changes," Youn said.
North Korea has expanded and reorganized its Reconnaissance and Intelligence General Bureau to strengthen its counterintelligence functions, Yoo said. He said the bureau's director, Ri Chang-ho, is concurrently serving as commander of an overseas special operations unit, an arrangement the agency attributed to a need to process operational intelligence coming out of the war in Ukraine.
Ri, a colonel general, was seen in February leading a column of overseas operations troops at the military parade marking the ninth Workers' Party congress, in his capacity as head of the bureau.
A stone engraved with the National Intelligence Service's motto, "Intelligence is national power," stands in front of the agency's headquarters in Seoul on Dec. 17, 2025. The agency restored the motto in July of that year.NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE
In addition to information regarding the possibility of additional North Korean troops being sent to Ukraine, "the NIS reported that it is analyzing two internal North Korean documents and missile blueprints," Yoo said.
The agency also reported blocking two attempts by Pyongyang to leak data related to advanced technology abroad, one involving blueprints for a new type of nuclear reactor and the other the engine of the Surion, a domestically developed military utility helicopter.
The NIS is setting up a post to oversee AI strategy and is building the unit around a former KAIST professor it recruited as a top-tier talent.
At home, the NIS told the committee it began a sweeping internal inspection on Aug. 25 into the illegal insurrection of Dec. 3, 2024, when former President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law.
Rep. Youn said the agency acknowledged that concerns exist about its internal task force set up to counter North Korean influence operations, including over surveillance of civilians, and that it is prepared to take personnel action depending on the findings of a special inspection.
Youn has been pressing the surveillance issue. At a news conference on Aug. 20, he said wide-ranging surveillance of civilians including politicians had taken place under the Yoon Suk Yeol government and that the findings were reported up to Yoon Suk Yeol himself on Jan. 3, 2024. He identified the same task force as the body responsible.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
