[US-NK Summit] North Korea lauds, and basks in, Kim's summit performance

PYONGYANG -- The series of photos on the front page of the ruling workers' party newspaper showed something North Koreans never would have imagined just months ago -- their leader Kim Jong-un warmly shaking hands with President Donald Trump. The priority treatment of what even Pyongyang is calling the "historic" meeting between Kim and Trump in Singapore underscores just how much of a propaganda coup the North saw in Tuesday's unprecedented summit. Dubbing it the start of a new relationship betw

June 13, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Trump sees ‘new future’ for North Korea, but path unclear

SINGAPORE -- President Donald Trump wrapped up his five-hour nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with surprisingly warm words and hope for “a bright new future” for Kim’s isolated and impoverished nation. Yet he immediately faced pointed questions at home about whether he got little and gave away much in his push to make a deal with the young autocrat — including an agreement to halt US military exercises with South Korea.Meeting with staged ceremony on a Singapore island, Trump

June 13, 2018

[Newsmaker] Trump retreats from US moral leadership stance

WASHINGTON -- Beaming in the moments after his summit with Kim Jong-un, President Donald Trump was asked about North Korea’s history of human rights horrors. “It’s rough,” he allowed. Then he added, “It’s rough in a lot of places, by the way. Not just there.”Trump’s verbal shrug in Singapore represented a striking change from the way US presidents have viewed their job, a shift from the nation’s asserted stance as the globe’s moral leader in favor of an approach based more on trade-offs with adv

June 13, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Kim summit helped world avoid 'nuclear catastrophe': Trump

HONOLULU -- Donald Trump's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has helped bring the world back from "nuclear catastrophe," the US president said Tuesday."The World has taken a big step back from potential Nuclear catastrophe!" Trump tweeted."No more rocket launches, nuclear testing or research! The hostages are back home with their families. Thank you to Chairman Kim, our day together was historic!" US President Donald Trump and North Korea`s leader Kim Jong-un walk together before their

June 13, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Kim invites Trump to visit Pyongyang as North hails 'radical switchover'

Kim Jong-un invited Donald Trump to visit North Korea during their historic summit and the US President accepted, Pyongyang state media reported Wednesday, calling it the start of a "radical switchover" in the nuclear-armed Cold War foes' fraught relations.The unprecedented encounter in Singapore Tuesday saw the leader of the world's most powerful democracy shake hands with the third generation scion of a dynastic dictatorship, standing as equals in front of their nations' flags.Kim agreed to th

June 13, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Trump boasts outcome of summit with NK leader Kim

SINGAPORE -- US President Donald Trump on Wednesday boasted of the results of his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore the previous day. "Great progress was made on the denuclearization of North Korea. Hostages are back home, will be getting the remains of our great heroes back to their families, no missiles shot, no research happening, sites closing," Trump tweeted."Got along great with Kim Jong-un who wants to see wonderful things for his country. As I said earlier

June 13, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Trump, Kim take first step toward peace on Korean Peninsula

SINGAPORE -- US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's historic summit on Tuesday signaled the start of warming ties between Cold War foes and the possible onset of peace on the Korean Peninsula.Trump and Kim met on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore, against the backdrop of North Korea's nuclear weapons capability that Trump has vowed never to allow to hold the United States hostage.Belying the somber theme of their meeting, the two leaders smiled, shook hands and exc

June 13, 2018

[US-NK Summit] N. Korea says Trump recognizes phased, simultaneous actions for denuclearization

North Korea's state media said Wednesday that its leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump shared the view that "step-by-step" and "simultaneous" actions are important to achieve peace and denuclearization. The Korean Central News Agency added that Trump expressed his intention to suspend all joint military drills between South Korea and the US while talks are under way between Pyongyang and Washington.Kim and Trump invited each other to their countries and they "gladly" accepted the inv

June 13, 2018

[Newsmaker] Formal end to Korean War not part of Singapore meeting

Speaking to reporters at a post-summit press conference following the historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said he hopes the Korean War will finally end. (Yonhap)Bringing a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, is widely thought to be a first step to guaranteeing the North Korean regime’s security. 　“While the armistice was agreed to, the war never ended to this day, never ended. But now we can all h

June 12, 2018

[US-NK Summit]Trump-Kim summit repeats past failure of denuclearizing NK: experts

Despite a joint agreement and lofty words, the first-ever summit between the US and North Korea appears to have made little progress in achieving the much-anticipated goal of denuclearizing North Korea, analysts said. Following their summit on the resort island of Sentosa in Singapore, US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un signed an agreement that “reaffirmed firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”But the agreement is a repea

June 12, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Moon says US-N. Korea summit lays groundwork for world peace

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday expressed his gratitude to US President Donald Trump, saying his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has paved the way for world peace."President Moon said President Trump has achieved a great success in the North Korea-US summit, laying the foundation for peace not only on the Korean Peninsula but in the entire world," Moon's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said of a telephone conversation between the two leaders.The call was made hours a

June 12, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Trump-Kim deal lacks specifics, but augurs well for denuclearization: experts

SINGAPORE -- Tuesday's summit agreement between the United States and North Korea lacks specifics on Pyongyang's denuclearization but marks a meaningful start on an issue that used to be a nonstarter, analysts said.After his historic meeting with US President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un committed to the "complete" denuclearization of the peninsula without specifying any timeline or method, which were key sticking points in the lead-up to the summit.The agreement fell short of e

June 12, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Unusual moments loosen up mood for Trump-Kim summit

Besides what they called a "comprehensive" deal, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un grabbed media attention on Tuesday with unexpected but tension-easing moments, especially so for heads of decades long adversaries.On their way out from a summit meeting room in the morning at the Capella Hotel on the Singaporean resort island of Sentosa, Trump and Kim walked down to the US presidential limousine on standby and showed its interior to the North Korean leader. The Associa

June 12, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Six things we learned from historic US-N.Korea summit

US President Donald Trump hailed his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un as a "very great day in the history of the world".But as the world was glued to the unprecedented meeting, we also learned that Kim likes a selfie and that Trump is really, really proud of "The Beast", his armoured car. (Reuters-Yonhap)Bring the boys homeIn a jawdropping post-summit press conference lasting more than an hour, Trump said he wanted  to bring home the 30,0000 or so US troops currently stationed in South Kore

June 12, 2018

[US-NK summit] Long road ahead for normalization of US-NK diplomatic ties

The United States and North Korea on Tuesday said they would commit to establishing new bilateral ties, feeding hopes for the normalization of US-North Korea diplomatic relations, but experts noted there is still a long road ahead. After their face-to-face summit in Singapore, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced a joint statement in which the leaders committed to establishing new bilateral relations and making joint efforts to build a “lasting and stable” peac

June 12, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Beijing, Tokyo laud historic summit of Pyongyang, Washington

China expressed welcome and support for the North Korea-United States summit held in Singapore on Tuesday, saying the joint declaration made by Pyongyang and Washington marked a milestone to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula.Geng Shuang, a spokesman of China's Foreign Ministry, said Beijing wishes to play a constructive role to help implement the summit agreement during a regular press briefing after being asked by a Yonhap News reporter to comment on the summit declaration."The international

June 12, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Reducing US troops in S. Korea ‘not part of equation’: Trump

SINGAPORE -- US President Donald Trump on Tuesday ruled out any changes to the US military presence in South Korea for the time being. Speaking at a press conference after his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump said US troops in South Korea will remain. “We are not reducing anything,” Trump said when asked about security guarantees promised to Kim that could involve the reduction of US military capabilities in South Korea. The US leader, however, said he hopes to consider taking

June 12, 2018

[US-NK Summit] S. Korea's Moon says US-N. Korea summit will write new history of peace

South Korean President Moon Jae-in hailed the outcome of the summit between his US and North Korean counterparts Tuesday, calling it a historic event that will end what he called the last remaining conflict of the Cold War and write a new history of peace and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula."I offer my heartfelt congratulations and welcome the success of the historic North Korea-United States summit," Moon said in a statement read by Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom on his behalf. Cheon

June 12, 2018

[US-NK Summit] US to end war games: Trump

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday revealed that the US will halt joint military drills with South Korea following the new agreement he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Trump also said that North Korea appears truthful in its commitment to denuclearization and that Pyongyang had an understanding of the need to achieve complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of its nuclear program before the summit. “We will be stopping war games,” Trump said, adding that stopping joint

June 12, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Trump says sanctions will remain until nukes ‘no longer an issue’

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that sanctions on North Korea will remain until nuclear weapons are “no longer an issue.”In the press conference held after his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, Trump said that he has no plans to ease any sanctions in the immediate future. Trump, however, hinted that lifting of sanctions may not necessarily coincide with the completion of the denuclearization process.  US President Donald Trump waves after a news conference (Reuter

June 12, 2018