Kim Jong-un would welcome Pope Francis to Pyongyang: Cheong Wa Dae

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would “passionately welcome” Pope Francis, should the pontiff visit Pyongyang, Seoul’s presidential office said Tuesday. According to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom, the North Korean leader revealed such intentions to President Moon Jae-in during the inter-Korean summit in North Korea. Moon and Kim held their third summit in Pyongyang from Sept. 18 to 20.  (Yonhap)The spokesman added that Moon intends to relay the North Korean leader’s words to the Pope dur

Oct. 9, 2018

Opening N. Korea's market could boost housing investment by W77tr : report

North Korean people's demand for better houses will create as much as 77 trillion won ($68.1 billion) in additional construction investment between 2021 and 2030 if the reclusive country fully opens its market, a report said Tuesday.According to the report published by the Bank of Korea, North Korea's new construction investment could reach 65 trillion won from 2011-20, with a 0.6 percent rise in housing demand.In the following 10 years, the country's housing demand will likely slow down to 0.3

Oct. 9, 2018

Unification minister to visit US next month

South Korea's unification minister plans to visit the United States next month in an apparent bid to soothe skepticism among officials and experts over the North's denuclearization commitment and peace talks on the Korean Peninsula. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon will meet senior US officials and scholars during his visit to Washington set for Nov. 13-17, a ministry official said Tuesday, asking not to be named. "Detailed schedules are being arranged," the official said."The mid-November v

Oct. 9, 2018

Pompeo, Chinese leaders reaffirm shared goal of NK denuclearization

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with top Chinese leaders in Beijing Monday and reaffirmed their shared goal of dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program in a final, fully verified manner, his department said.Pompeo held separate meetings with Yang Jiechi, a top Chinese Communist Party official in charge of foreign affairs, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the end of a four-nation trip that also took him to Pyongyang for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-

Oct. 9, 2018

Pompeo’s Pyongyang visit boosts denuclearization talks

With North Korea and the US alike hailing the progress that was achieved during US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s fourth visit to Pyongyang, the previously slow-moving talks aimed at achieving North Korea’s denuclearization are now gaining momentum. Pompeo said he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had made “significant progress” toward an agreement for the North to give up its nuclear weapons program, and that he expected further progress after a second summit between Kim and US President Do

Oct. 8, 2018

S. Korea proposes inter-Korean parliamentary meeting in Nov. in Pyongyang

South Korea has proposed holding a cross-border parliamentary meeting in November in Pyongyang and follow-up gathering next year in Seoul.The proposal was made by South Korean lawmakers who were part of the 160-member delegation that visited Pyongyang last week for the joint celebration of the 11th anniversary of the 2007 inter-Korean summit.Earlier this year, National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang had proposed to the North’s Supreme People’s Assembly that the two parliaments hold a joint meeti

Oct. 8, 2018

Moon says ‘new order’ being formed on Korean Peninsula

President Moon Jae-in on Monday said the geopolitical order on the Korean Peninsula was taking on a new form, citing developments concerning North Korea. President Moon Jae-in speaks at the Cabinet meeting on Monday. Yonhap“Separately from the North-US summit, Chairman Kim Jong-un is set to visit Russia, and a visit to North Korea by President Xi Jinping is expected in the near future,” Moon said at Monday’s Cabinet meeting.“In addition, the possibility of a North Korea-Japan summit is open. A n

Oct. 8, 2018

Moon: N.Korea leader to visit Russia, China's Xi to visit N.Korea in near future

President Moon Jae-in said Monday that Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit North Korea in the near future, while the North's leader is also expected to visit Russia.Moon made the remark during a Cabinet meeting, saying US President Mike Pompeo's trip to Pyongyang paved the way for an early second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump."Separately from the second North-US summit, Chairman Kim's trip to Russia and Chinese President Xi Jinping's v

Oct. 8, 2018

UN ambassadors of two Koreas agree to meet often for discussions

NEW YORK -- South Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Cho Tae-yul had his first meeting with new North Korean Ambassador to the UN Kim Song last week and they agreed to meet again often to hold consultations, according to a Facebook post by Cho on Sunday.Cho said he first met with Kim while attending China's national day reception at the Chinese Mission to the U.N. in New York on Oct. 1.Kim, who replaced Ja Song-nam as the North's top diplomat at the UN, presented his credentials to UN Secre

Oct. 8, 2018

Korean minister says Pompeo's Pyongyang trip was fruitful

South Korea's top diplomat said Monday that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's weekend trip to North Korea appears to have been successful."It seems like that has brought good results," Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told reporters.She had a dinner meeting with Pompeo in Seoul on Sunday shortly after the secretary's day-long visit to Pyongyang, where he had talks lasting several hours with the North's leader, Kim Jong-un.Kang would not elaborate on the outcome of the trip, which was aimed main

Oct. 8, 2018

Korea proposes inter-Korean parliamentary meeting in Nov. in Pyongyang

SEOUL/PYONGYANG -- South Korea has proposed holding an inter-Korean parliamentary meeting in November in Pyongyang and another gathering next year in Seoul.The proposal was made by South Korean politicians who visited Pyongyang last week to attend the first-ever joint event to celebrate the 11th anniversary of the 2007 inter-Korean summit.Amid rapprochement on the Korean Peninsula, National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang earlier proposed to the North's Supreme People's Assembly that the two parl

Oct. 8, 2018

Second US-NK summit anticipated in near future: Seoul official

South Korea's national security advisor said Monday that he expects a second summit between the United States and North Korea to be held in the near future.Chung Eui-yong made the remark after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited North Korea on Sunday to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un."We've assessed that Pompeo's visit appeared to yield a lot of accomplishments," Chung said at the start of a meeting among senior officials from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, the governmen

Oct. 8, 2018

NK leader expresses belief in 'good program' for 2nd summit with Trump

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has expressed his belief that a "good program" will be arranged "sooner or later" for his second summit with US President Donald Trump, the North's state media said Monday.Kim voiced his optimism as he said goodbye to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who made a one-day trip to Pyongyang on Sunday to keep denuclearization talks going and also to discuss a second summit between Kim and Trump following their first historic talks in June, according to the Korean Cen

Oct. 8, 2018

US-North Korea summit to take place ‘soon’ : Pompeo

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that he and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un agreed to hold the second US-North Korea summit “as soon as possible”, South Korea’s presidential office said.Hours after meeting with Kim in Pyongyang in the afternoon, Pompeo told President Moon Jae-in that Washington and Pyongyang will establish working-level negotiation teams to determine the timing and location of the summit, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Speaking to reporters on his way to Pyongyang

Oct. 7, 2018

New DMZ observation deck to open on Oct. 22

A new observatory deck in the Demilitarized Zone that bisects the two Koreas will open to the public later this month, the city of Paju said Sunday.Dora Observatory, situated in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, will be officially relocated to a spot 170 meters northeast of its previous location. New Dora Observatory in Paju, Gyeonggi Province (Yonhap)The relocation process started in late 2016 with an investment of 1 billion won ($884,000). The new venue will be nearly double the size of the former obse

Oct. 7, 2018

N. Korea, China, Russia to hold trilateral consultations on denuclearization

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui will hold rare trilateral consultations with her Chinese and Russian counterparts in Moscow on Tuesday, in what is viewed as an effort to reaffirm their shared stance on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.According to Russia’s Tass news agency, Choe and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov will hold a bilateral meeting Monday, which will be closely followed by a trilateral consultation involving the two and China’s Vice Minister

Oct. 7, 2018

Pompeo arrives in N. Korea for meeting with Kim Jong-un

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Pyongyang on Sunday and is set to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, news reports said.Pompeo left for Pyongyang from Tokyo earlier in the day, where he met Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Saturday. His plane landed in the North Korean capital before noon, the reports said.South Korean officials said that in Pyongyang, the US secretary will hold a meeting

Oct. 7, 2018

N. Korean media report recent joint inter-Korean celebratory event

State North Korean media on Sunday reported the hosting of the joint inter-Korean event to celebrate the 11th anniversary of the 2007 summit between the two Koreas' former leaders.The reports by the Rodong Sinmun daily and the Korean Central News Agency came one day after a delegation of about 160 South Koreans returned to Seoul from a trip to Pyongyang for the event.(Yonhap)"A delegation of the south side left here on Saturday after taking part in a meeting for national reunification marking th

Oct. 7, 2018

Pompeo heads to N. Korea for meeting with Kim Jong-un

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headed to North Korea on Sunday to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.Pompeo left for Pyongyang from Tokyo earlier in the day, where he met Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Friday, Japan's Kyodo News reported.South Korean officials said that in Pyongyang, the US secretary will hold a meeting with the North Korean leader on the issues of denuclearization and the establ

Oct. 7, 2018

N. Korean vice foreign minister heads to Russia

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui on Saturday headed to Russia in an apparent bid to reaffirm ties between Pyongyang and Moscow and win support amid ongoing efforts to hold talks with Washington.Choe took an Aeroflot flight from Beijing to Moscow, after completing her two-day trip in China. (Yonhap)She briefly told reporters that the purpose of the visit is to hold trilateral dialogue with China and Russia.Pundits said the visit is apparently aimed at reaffirming ties with allies,

Oct. 6, 2018