Trump revisits wargames with S. Korea as N. Korea talks stall

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said that there’s no reason to spend a lot of money on military wargames with South Korea, but he warned he could “instantly” relaunch the exercises again and they would be “far bigger than ever before.”　Trump made the comment Wednesday in a series of tweets that primarily took aim at China, blaming it for lack of progress on getting North Korea to end its nuclear program, following the president’s landmark summit with Kim Jong Un in June.　But there was

Aug. 30, 2018

Denuclearization a key agenda item of inter-Korean summit: official

Efforts to denuclearize North Korea have been and will continue to be at the center of inter-Korean dialogue, including summit talks, an official from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday."Already, denuclearization has been the most important issue in talks between the leaders of South Korea, North Korea and the United States," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said.The remarks came as South Korean President Moon Jae-in is set to visit Pyongyang next month for what would be hi

Aug. 30, 2018

UNC rejects two Koreas’ request to test-run cross-border railway

The United Nations Command declined the two Koreas’ request to test-run a train on a cross-border railway last week, sources said Thursday, fueling speculation that the US might be reluctant to support inter-Korean projects amid stalled denuclearization talks with North Korea. A test operation of a train connecting the South’s capital of Seoul to the North’s Shinuiju, which lies on the border with China, was initially planned for Aug. 22-27 as part of the Koreas’ joint field survey on modernizin

Aug. 30, 2018

N. Korea has not responded to UN request for info on enforced disappearances: report

North Korea has kept mum about a UN group's request to provide information on 66 cases of enforced disappearances for one year beginning in May last year, a US government-funded radio station reported Thursday.Enforced disappearances are when a person goes missing after having been arrested, detained or abducted by a government or state-run organization.Citing an annual report by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Radio Free Asia said the group has called for the US Sec

Aug. 30, 2018

Pompeo tells S. Korea about canceled trip to N. Korea

The top US diplomat has said he did not visit North Korea as nothing would come of it even if he traveled to Pyongyang, South Korean lawmakers said Wednesday.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the comments to South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, members of the parliamentary intelligence committee said after being briefed by the National Intelligence Service, South Korea's spy agency, at the National Assembly. (Yonhap)Lee Eun-jae of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, who is a m

Aug. 30, 2018

Violations of the right to life rising again in N. Korea: private group

Infringements on the right to life have been on the rise in North Korea since 2010, a private group monitoring the North's human rights record said Wednesday.According to the Seoul-based Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB), the portion of infringement of the right to life, such as executions and violence or deaths in prison, rose to 13.3 percent of the North's total human rights violations in the years after 2010 from 6.2 percent in the 2000s.The NKDB said it compiled the data a

Aug. 29, 2018

N. Korea, Japan working on November summit: report

Japan and North Korea are working on arranging a summit later in the year, a local news outlet reported Wednesday, on the heels of reports of a secret meeting in Vietnam between representatives of the two countries.According to the Daily NK, a Seoul-based online news outlet specializing in North Korean news, Pyongyang is trying to arrange talks in November between its leader, Kim Jong-un, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.Quoting an unnamed North Korean official posted in China, the Daily N

Aug. 29, 2018

NK calls for S. Korea to implement Panmunjom Declaration, lambastes US

North Korea’s state media on Wednesday called for South Korea to faithfully implement the Panmunjom Declaration, while lambasting the US’ decision to maintain its pressure campaign against the communist nation, amid perceived stalled nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang. “In order to lend support for the current move toward reconciliation, unity and reunification, (we) should continue to push ahead with implementation of the historic Panmunjom Declaration,” North Korea’s daily Rodong S

Aug. 29, 2018

Trump called off Pompeo’s NK visit after belligerent letter: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- US President Donald Trump called off a visit to North Korea by Secretary of State MikePompeo after the latter received a belligerent letter from a senior North Korean official just hours after the trip was announced last week, the Washington Post reported on Monday.The Post quoted two unnamed senior US administration officials as saying the letter came on Friday from Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee, who led previous ro

Aug. 28, 2018

Spy agency says it reported NK coal import to presidential security office last October

South Korea’s spy chief told a parliamentary panel Tuesday his agency reported the import of North Korean coal to the presidential national security office last October, lawmakers said.A monthslong probe by the customs office showed that three South Korean firms imported North Korean coal from Russia in apparent violation of UN sanctions resolutions. There is a controversy over whether the government turned a blind eye to the North Korean coal shipment amid a peace mood with Pyongyang.Suh Hoon,

Aug. 28, 2018

[Newsmaker] Government to boost inter-Korean cooperation fund for 2019

Next year’s allocation to the inter-Korean cooperation fund spiked 14.3 percent on-year to 1.1 trillion won ($994 million) in the government budget announced Tuesday, with the sharp increase reflecting Seoul’s hopes of expanding and making headway in cross-border projects. Unification-related budget stood at 1.3 trillion won.　The larger allocation aims to facilitate the implementation of the Panmunjom Declaration reached between the leaders of the two Koreas in April. The agreement states that t

Aug. 28, 2018

Japanese man on way home after release from N. Korean custody

TOKYO -- Media reports say a Japanese man released by North Korea after being accused of a crime has arrived in Beijing from Pyongyang and is expected to return home. Tomoyuki Sugimoto had been in North Korean custody for an investigation into the unspecified crime, but the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Sunday the country decided to be lenient and expel him for humanitarian reasons.  Japanese tourist Tomoyuki Sugimoto sits on a seat of an Air Koryo plane in flight from Pyongya

Aug. 28, 2018

US lawmaker asks Washington to demand Pyongyang return USS Pueblo: report

A US congressman has sent White House security adviser John Bolton a letter asking Washington to demand that Pyongyang return the US intelligence ship Pueblo to the US Navy, the Voice of America reported Tuesday.According to VOA's Korean service, John Faso, a Republican congressman from New York, said in the letter dated Saturday that the United States should use the repatriation of the ship as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with North Korea.North Korea attacked and seized the 906-ton USS

Aug. 28, 2018

More family reunions depend on inter-Korean negotiations: ministry

Regarding the possibility of holding another round of reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War in October, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said it would have to observe negotiations between the two Koreas. “(We) will have to further watch the circumstances surrounding (the arrangement of) the reunion event, such as inter-Korean negotiations. We have continued to raise the urgency and the need to resolve the issue of separated families on various occasions,” Baik Tae-hyun, m

Aug. 27, 2018

Moon’s mediator role again in spotlight

President Moon Jae-in’s role as a mediator between North Korea and the US is once again gaining attention as recent developments cast doubt over the denuclearization process.On Friday, US President Donald Trump canceled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s trip to North Korea, only a day after Pompeo’s travel plans were announced. Even before Pompeo’s trip was officially confirmed, speculation had arisen that his fourth trip to Pyongyang would bring about positive results concerning the denucleariza

Aug. 27, 2018

6 arrested in Thailand over counterfeit NK money

Thai police have arrested six Thais on allegations that they traded counterfeit North Korean banknotes, a local newspaper reported Monday.Police in Chonburi, Thailand, said they had also seized some 86,000 banknotes amounting to 43 million North Korean won (53 million South Korean won or about $48,000) after an undercover investigation in the nearby Bang Lamung district. (Reuters)A photo in the newspaper, the Bangkok Post, showed stacks of old North Korean banknotes used before Pyongyang’s 2009

Aug. 27, 2018

N. Korean newspaper comments on intensifying US-China conflict

North Korea's main newspaper on Monday carried a commentary that shed light on the escalating trade conflict between Washington and Beijing, denuclearization of the North and other issues.Titled "Worsening China-US relationship," the commentary by the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North's ruling Workers' Party, introduced the content of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 of the US and China's angry reaction to the act."What is notable is that the NDAA specifies regulat

Aug. 27, 2018

Inter-Korean liaison office plan subject to fresh review: Cheong Wa Dae

South Korea will re-evaluate the opening of a joint liaison office with North Korea, a presidential official said Monday, indicating a possible delay amid an apparent stumbling block in US-North Korea talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions.The remarks came three days after US President Donald Trump called off a scheduled trip by his State Secretary Mike Pompeo to the communist North."The opening of the liaison office had been planned under smooth progress (in denuclearization efforts),

Aug. 27, 2018

N. Korea releases Japanese citizen, citing ‘humanitarianism’

North Korea has released a Japanese citizen who had been held in custody for allegedly violating its law, saying the decision was made “on the principle of humanitarianism,” the North’s state-run media reported.The Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday night on the release of Tomoyuki Sugimoto, a Japanese who had been under investigation for an unspecified crime.He was “kept under control by a relevant institution to be inquired into his crime against the law of the DPRK,” the KCNA said in

Aug. 27, 2018

N. Korea's media report on weeklong reunions of war-torn families

North Korea's media reported Monday on the weeklong reunions of hundreds of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. South and North Korea held the event in two rounds from Aug. 20-26 at Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort on the North's east coast.It is part of the promise their leaders made during a summit in April. "There ended the reunion of separated families and relatives from the north and the south held at Mt Kumgang Resort as part of practical measures for implementing the historic Panm

Aug. 27, 2018