[US-NK Summit] Kim Jong-un, Trump set for showdown on CVID, CVIG

After months of a fragile mood of peace, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump will hold high-stakes talks in Singapore next week that could transform the regional and global security landscape.Two acronyms sum up their goals -- CVID and CVIG.The US has sought the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the communist nation, but the North wants a guarantee of security so as to avoid the fate of the former regimes of Libya and Iraq.If Kim and Trump produc

June 7, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Kim begged for summit on hands and knees: Trump attorney

WASHINGTON -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un got on his hands and knees to beg for the reinstatement of a meeting with US President Donald Trump, the latter's attorney said Wednesday.Rudy Giuliani made the remark at a business conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, with six days to go before the highly anticipated summit in Singapore."Kim Jong-un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in," Giuliani said, according to an AP transcript.The fo

June 7, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Bolton to be in Singapore for US-N. Korea summit

WASHINGTON -- US National Security Adviser John Bolton will be in Singapore for next week's highly anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a White House official said Wednesday.Bolton has been a target of North Korean anger since he called for applying a so-called Libya model to the dismantlement of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.That means removing all nuclear weapons and related facilities from the North before rewarding the regime with ec

June 7, 2018

[US-NK Summit] 'For Kim Jong-un to cheat, risk is too high'

　Previous attempts to denuclearize North Korea have ended with failure. From the Agreed Framework in 1994 and Leap Day deal of 2012, the past negotiations were bedeviled by mistrust and eventually allowed Pyongyang to declare itself a full-fledged nuclear power. 　Such skepticism is still rampant over the first-ever US-North Korea summit to be held in Singapore on Tuesday. Despite the historic significance, doubts persist over whether North Korea would give away the nuclear weapons that it sees a

June 6, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Media speculations rise with venue, time set for US-NK summit

The White House on Wednesday confirmed the venue of the US-North Korea summit in Singapore. In a Twitter post, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders revealed that the meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island. A day earlier, Sanders told reporters that the meeting will start at 9 a.m. (Singapore time) on June 12.An undated handout photo of Capella hotel on Sentosa island, Singapore. YonhapWhile the sum

June 6, 2018

South Korea ready to help reforestation of North

Projects aimed at restoring North Korea’s forests are budding again amid warmer inter-Korean ties.At high-level talks held Friday, the two Koreas agreed to hold a meeting for cross-border reforestation projects, while announcing dates for other inter-Korean talks. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said the meeting on reforestation would likely take place in late June. “In a nutshell, North Korea’s devastated woodlands affect the entire Korean Peninsula, not just North Korea,” Shin Hye-ji, a r

June 6, 2018

[Newsmaker] Could opposites attract at Trump-Kim summit?

When US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sit down in Singapore next week it will be among the most improbable diplomatic summits in history, with principals who could not be more different -- but who also share some surprising similarities.Trump was the oldest US president ever to take office when he was sworn in last year, and will turn 72 two days after the meeting.The North Korean leader is still in his mid-thirties and remains among the youngest heads of government

June 6, 2018

[US-NK Summit] US, North Korea hold new prep talks for historic summit

SEOUL/BEIJING -- Working-level officials of the United States and North Korea met again at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom on Wednesday to discuss the agenda for the historic summit between the leaders of the two countries next week.Sung Kim, US ambassador to the Philippines and former nuclear envoy, and Pyongyang's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui began the talks at a North Korean building in the village at 10 a.m., according to Seoul officials well-versed on the matter.The two s

June 6, 2018

[US-NK Summit] US not paying for N. Koreans' stay in Singapore

WASHINGTON -- The United States is not paying for North Korean officials to stay in Singapore for next week's summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the State Department said Tuesday.Paying for accommodation is certain to be a strain for the impoverished nation, with Kim reportedly planning to stay at a luxurious hotel such as the Fullerton or the St. Regis."The United States government is not paying for the North Korean delegation to stay," State Departmen

June 6, 2018

[Newsmaker] NK leader wants to test US seriousness at summit: ex-envoy

WASHINGTON -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un probably wants to test the United States' commitment to any nuclear deal when he meets with US President Donald Trump next week, a former US envoy said Tuesday.Trump and Kim are set for a historic summit in Singapore next Tuesday, a meeting that will focus on dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program in exchange for security guarantees for the regime."I believe he wants the summit to see the seriousness on the US side," Joseph Yun, former US

June 6, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Trump, Kim to meet at Capella Hotel in Singapore: White House

WASHINGTON -- .S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet at the Capella Hotel in Singapore on June 12, the White House said Tuesday.In announcing the location of the meeting, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted: "UPDATE: The venue for the Singapore summit between @POTUS and Leader Kim Jong Un will be the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island."POTUS is shorthand for president of the United States.Sanders announced Monday that the first meeting has been schedu

June 6, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Trump hopes summit with N. Korea will be 'start of something big'

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he hopes his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will be the beginning of "something big." US President Donald Trump (Yonhap)"Meeting in Singapore with North Korea will hopefully be the start of something big...we will soon see!" he tweeted.The message came one day after the White House announced that the first US-North Korea summit will start at 9 a.m. (local time) next Tuesday in Singapore.The US leader earlier called off the meeting, citi

June 5, 2018

[US-NK Summit] S. Korea, US working on diplomatic schedule after Trump-Kim summit: Seoul official

South Korea is in talks with the United States over their diplomatic schedule to follow the upcoming summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a Seoul official said Tuesday. US President Donald Trump (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (right)The remark was made following a report by Japanese broadcaster NHK stating that Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono is planning to visit Seoul to meet his South Korean and US counterparts one day after the Trump-Ki

June 5, 2018

[US-NK Summit] Singapore wraps resort island of Sentosa into special zone for Trump-Kim summit

Singapore on Tuesday added its southern resort island of Sentosa to a special event area designated for next week’s summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the government said. A view of Sentosa Island in Singapore. (Reuters-Yonhap)On Monday, the wealthy city-state had declared a central region that is home to its foreign ministry, the US embassy and several hotels, as a special zone from June 10 to 14. In its online gazette, the government said the amended

June 5, 2018

Int'l Red Cross hopes for 'next-phase' cooperation with S. Korea on humanitarian challenges

The head of an international Red Cross organization said Tuesday that he wishes to have "next-phase" cooperation with South Korea as improving inter-Korean relations draw attention to humanitarian issues in North Korea.Peter Maurer, the head of the Switzerland-based International Committee of the Red Cross, added that he wants to closely work with South Korea to address humanitarian issues caused by the 1950-53 Korean War.  Peter Maurer, the head of the Switzerland-based International Committee

June 5, 2018

Air China to resume Beijing-Pyongyang route amid improved diplomatic ties

BEIJING -- China's national carrier will resume flights between Beijing and Pyongyang this week amid improved Sino-North Korea ties, a company official said Tuesday.Starting Wednesday, Air China will provide three flights per week on the route that it suspended on Nov. 21 last year. Relations soured last year as Beijing, angered by Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests, backed a series of United Nations' sanctions against its ally. An Air China carrier (Yonhap)The official told Yonhap News Agenc

June 5, 2018

[Photo News] Singapore unveils commemorative coins for NK-US summit

The Singapore Mint on Tuesday unveiled gold, silver and base-metal medallions to commemorate the upcoming summit in the neutral city between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The medallions not only commemorate the “momentous step to world peace,” but also mark Singapore’s role “as a neutral host, and an economic and security gateway between the East and the West,” according to The Singapore Mint. The two sides of the medallion portray a handshake between Trump and K

June 5, 2018

Ministry declines to confirm Seoul’s proposal on liaison office officials

Seoul’s Ministry of Unification on Tuesday declined to confirm media reports claiming that the South has asked the North to grant diplomatic immunity to South Korean officials to be stationed in the joint liaison office in North Korea. The two Koreas reaffirmed at high-level talks held Friday a plan to open a liaison office in the North’s border city of Kaesong “at an early date.” The talks aimed to hammer out details in implementing agreements reached at the April 27 inter-Korean summit.  Kaeso

June 5, 2018

[US-NK Summit] White House confirms tentative schedule for US-NK summit

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet in Singapore on June 12, with the meeting kicking off at 9 a.m., the White House confirmed Tuesday. “I can tell you the president has been receiving daily briefings on North Korea from his national security team,” White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said. “And I can also tell you the schedule, tentatively, for that first meeting will be on June 12 at 9 a.m. Singapore time.”According to Sanders, US-North Korea negotiations

June 5, 2018

Top NK officials increase economy-related activities

Choe Ryong-hae, believed to be North Korea's second-most powerful man after leader Kim Jong-un, has recently increased his economy-related activities, apparently on behalf of Kim, who is busy preparing for his June 12 summit with US President Trump in Singapore.A report from Pyongyang said Tuesday that Choe, vice chairman of the North's State Affairs Commission, visited cooperative farms, a fish farm and a food factory in regions south of the capital, following his earlier visits to an auto asse

June 5, 2018