S. Korea must play ‘facilitating role’ for US-NK talks: presidential adviser Moon

South Korea should play a more active role in facilitating negotiations between the US and North Korea amid concerns over the two countries’ apparent difference over the denuclearization process, Moon Chung-in, a special adviser to President Moon Jae-in, said Monday.　Moon Chung-in, a Yonsei University professor, said while US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s trip to Pyongyang exposed a gap over how to resolve a nuclear standoff, both countries can address the issue their leaders reached an agree

July 9, 2018

Repair workers leave for NK to prepare for reunions of separated families

A group of government officials and repair workers visited North Korea on Monday to repair facilities in preparation for the upcoming reunions of war-separated families, the unification ministry said Monday.The 22-member team crossed into the North at around 9 a.m. via the eastern land border to begin repair on facilities at a Mount Kumgang resort where reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War will be held next month.The work will be carried out until mid-August based on the resu

July 9, 2018

Pompeo holds out Vietnam model for N. Korea

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday held out a brighter future for North Korea, urging leader Kim Jong-un to follow the path to prosperity taken by Vietnam.Pompeo was speaking at a business event in Hanoi, Vietnam, after completing a two-day trip to Pyongyang where he met with North Korean officials to discuss the details of a summit agreement between US President Donald Trump and Kim. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, walks through the streets of Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, July 8.

July 9, 2018

Sanctions remain in place until NK achieves ‘final denuclearization’: Pompeo

Economic sanctions on North Korea will remain in place until the country achieves “final, verified” denuclearization, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday, stressing that Pyongyang’s rebuke of the demand as “gangster-like” was unfounded.   　Following his meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterpart Kang Kyung-wha and Taro Kono, Pompeo said while there was progress made on denuclearization, the US and its allies will continue to apply international sanctions until North Korea c

July 8, 2018

After talks, N. Korea accuses US of 'gangster-like' demands

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has delivered a dose of harsh reality to Donald Trump, bashing hopes for a quick denuclearization deal in a pointed rebuke to the president's top envoy while accusing the US of making "gangster-like" demands.After the historic US-North Korea summit in Singapore, Trump declared the North was no longer a threat and would hand over the remains of Americans killed during the Korean War. Now, three weeks later, the two sides were still at odds on all issues, including

July 8, 2018

N. Korea voices regret over US' attitude during denuclearization talks

North Korea expressed regret Saturday over the attitude of US negotiators during their talks this week to work out details on how to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula as agreed to by their leaders in their recent summit meeting. In a statement issued by an unnamed foreign ministry spokesman and carried by the Korean Central News Agency, the North lashed out at the United States for seeking unilateral and forced denuclearization from Pyongyang.The statement came hours after US Secretary of State

July 8, 2018

Pompeo says 'progress made' on NK's denuclearization

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that progress has been made on North Korea's denuclearization after meeting with a high-ranking North Korean official in Pyongyang. Pompeo landed in Tokyo after completing his two-day trip in North Korea for denuclearization talks. Before flying to Japan, Pompeo told pool reporters that he had "very productive" talks and spent "a good deal of time" discussing a timeline for North Korea's denuclearization."These are complicated issues, but we made p

July 7, 2018

Pompeo, Kim Yong-chol seek 'clarity' in Pyongyang talks

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a senior North Korean official admitted Saturday that they have things to "clarify," opening a second day of talks in Pyongyang.Pompeo and Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, met with each other for nearly three hours Friday apparently on details of what the two countries should do in order to implement the Singapore summit deal last month.Kim told the secretary, "We did have very serious discussion on very i

July 7, 2018

N. Korea, US launch 'working groups' on denuclearization

North Korea and the United States have established working groups to talk about details of a denuclearization plan, a US official was quoted as saying Saturday, as Washington's top diplomat is set for a second day of negotiations in Pyongyang.The two sides set up the consultation channel to deal with "nitty gritty stuff," including those related to efforts to achieve the complete denuclearization of the North, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, according to Reuters, which cited a

July 7, 2018

Pompeo in Pyongyang seeks progress on N. Korea nuke commitment

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met for nearly three hours Friday with a top North Korean official in Pyongyang to nail down specifics of commitments on denuclearization made at President Donald Trump's summit with leader Kim Jong-un last month. Pompeo has the crucial task of dispelling growing skepticism over how serious Kim is about giving up his nuclear arsenal and translating the upbeat rhetoric following the June 12 summit into concrete action.It's his third trip to the North Korean capital

July 7, 2018

S. Korea OKs local cable broadcaster's trip to N. Korea

South Korea said Friday that it has approved a local cable broadcasting firm's request to visit North Korea to discuss inter-Korean exchanges and the possible opening of a branch in Pyongyang.The unification ministry said that it gave the green light for JTBC to visit the North, from which it recently received an invitation. The broadcasting firm is to send an eight-member team on a four-day trip that will start Monday. Sohn Suk-hee of JTBC (JTBC)JTBC is expected to meet with broadcasting people

July 7, 2018

S. Korean delegation returns after trip to Pyongyang for basketball games

South Korean officials, athletes and journalists returned home Friday from a trip to North Korea for friendly basketball matches amid a thaw in inter-Korean relations.The 100-strong delegation led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon arrived at an airport in Seongnam, south of Seoul, on two military planes, which they used to fly into Pyongyang on Tuesday.  (Yonhap)South and North Korean basketball players held four friendly matches on Wednesday and Thursday in a follow up to the agreement th

July 6, 2018

Vatican's top diplomat hopes for N. Korea aid

The Vatican's top diplomat asked the South Korean government Friday to pay attention to the issue of humanitarian aid for North Korea in tandem with progress in denuclearization efforts, Seoul's foreign ministry said.Meeting with South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha here, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican's secretary for relations with states, reaffirmed its continued support for the country's initiative to rid the peninsula of nuclear weapons and establish a peace regime.(

July 6, 2018

[Herald Interview] Lifting sanctions on Rajin-Khasan Project key to economic cooperation with Russia, NK

South Korea and the United States need to lift their economic sanctions on a joint project between the two Koreas and Russia, a chairman of presidential committee on northern policy said, calling for an immediate resumption of the cross-border logistic initiative Rajin-Khasan Project. Rep. Song Young-gil, who chairs the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation, said the two governments should allow for investment in connecting Russia and North Korea’s border towns of Rajin and Kha

July 6, 2018

NK eyeing second summit with US in Switzerland: report

North Korea is looking for a place in Switzerland to hold its second summit with the US, according to a Japanese news report on Friday.Citing multiple diplomatic sources, Kyodo News reported that a team of North Korean diplomats has been sent to Geneva, Bern and Davos to look at conference halls and hotels as potential venues for its denuclearization talks with the US.  (Yonhap)Pyongyang and Washington are expected to rev up talks on denuclearization and normalization of diplomatic relations fol

July 6, 2018

UN human rights expert to meet with NK restaurant workers: report

A UN human rights expert said he will meet this week with North Korean restaurant workers who defected to the South in 2016, a US broadcaster reported on Friday. Pyongyang has demanded the repatriation of 12 North Korean restaurant workers, claiming they were abducted by South Korean authorities in China. In an interview aired by local broadcaster JTBC in May, the restaurant manager who defected to the South with the female employees said the South’s National Intelligence Service had orchestrate

July 6, 2018

Ri Su-yong delivers message from Kim Jong-un to Raul Castro: report

North Korean ruling party’s senior official met with Raul Castro, the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, in Cuba on Thursday, and delivered a message from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to media reports. According to Cuba’s state-run broadcaster, Ri Su-yong, a vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, and Castro confirmed traditional ties and friendship between the governments, parties and people during a meeting. During the meeting, Ri delivered to

July 6, 2018

S. Korean bizmen to again seek govt. approval to visit N. Korea

South Korean businessmen who operated factories at the now-shuttered joint industrial complex in North Korea will again ask the government to allow them to visit the park to inspect their facilities, their representative said Friday.“We have decided to ask the government again next week,” said Shin Han-yong, the head of a private task force that speaks on behalf of more than 120 South Korean companies. “We hope for a prompt resumption of the factory park.” The move comes amid a recent rapprochem

July 6, 2018

N. Korea to compete at table tennis tournament in S. Korea

The South Korean delegation returned to Seoul on Friday with concrete plans to further expand inter-Korean sport exchanges. The delegation was in Pyongyang on a four-day trip to play cross-border basketball friendly matches for the first time in 15 years. Announcing the results of the 23-minute overnight inter-Korean talks, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Friday that North Korea will send a delegation of 16 players and nine officials to an international table tennis tournament to be

July 6, 2018

N. Korea slams US over human rights report ahead of Pompeo's visit

North Korea's media on Friday resumed its criticism of Washington ahead of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's arrival in Pyongyang, warning against any argument over its human rights conditions.Uriminzokkiri, the North's external propaganda website, said in a commentary that the US government should immediately abandon any attempt to irritate and deride Pyongyang over its human rights issue. (Yonhap)"Following recent summit talks in Singapore between the DPRK (North Korea) and the US, (the) bil

July 6, 2018