South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were accompanied by the most powerful officials from their countries at the inter-Korean summit held Friday at the truce village of Panmunjeom. Attention was on the four officials who joined Moon and Kim for the morning session of the inter-Korean summit on the second floor of the Peace House -- Kim Yo-jong, Kim’s younger sister, and Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party of Koreas, from the North, and Im J

North Korea April 27, 2018

As South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un headed to the Peace House inside the truce village of Panmunjeom for their historic summit on Friday, the whole world watched three unexpected scenes play out. The unscripted moments were: President Moon stepping over the Military Demarcation Line into North Korea, North Korean military officials saluting Moon and the two leaders and their delegations taking a group photo with the North’s Panmungak in the background. Moon

North Korea April 27, 2018

As South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a light conversation ahead of the inter-Korean summit, the Peace House -- the summit venue -- erupted into laughter. The two leaders exchanged remarks in the meeting room on the second floor of Peace House inside the truce village of Panmunjeom on Friday, starting at 10:15 a.m., before the historic summit began. (Cheong Wa Dae)“In the morning…. I heard that they talked about the dinner menu. We did manage to bring nae

North Korea April 27, 2018

Expectations for Friday’s inter-Korean summit have been heightened by the caliber of his nine-member entourage. The North’s delegation includes a total of nine senior party, military and government officials, including Kim Yo-jong, the first vice department director of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea’s central committee, and Kim Yong-nam, the North’s ceremonial head of state, chief presidential secretary Im Jong-seok told a news briefing Thursday. 　According to experts, Kim’s pick shows that

North Korea April 26, 2018

With South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un set to meet Friday, nearly 3,000 journalists from all around the world packed the main press center set up in an exhibition hall in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. A sense of excitement was palpable among reporters here covering the event, which will be the first inter-Korean summit in 11 years, and follows a year of tension heightened by the North’s nuclear and missile provocations. And most of them were looking out for what

Foreign Affairs April 26, 2018

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may agree to a statement on peace and denuclearization during the planned summit, but it could still pose challenges in follow-up negotiations, a Korea expert Victor Cha said Tuesday. “It does raise a question of how much leaders can accomplish when there is no groundwork done in advance,” said Cha, who was once under consideration for US ambassador to South Korea, during a press conference on the sidelines of the Asan Plenum conferen

Foreign Affairs April 24, 2018

On April 27, Panmunjeom on the inter-Korean border will be the stage for the meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the first inter-Korean summit in 11 years. Situated in the heavily fortified 250-kilometer-long Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas, the Joint Security Area of Panmunjeom is where the Korean War armistice was signed in 1953 and numerous cross-border talks have since been held. The Peace House, a three-story building where

North Korea April 24, 2018

Since North Korea announced it was willing to negotiate over its nuclear weapons program and offered to sit down for talks with the US, there has been lingering skepticism that it is a typical ploy from the North to weaken sanctions or buy time to perfect its nuclear and missile technology. Now, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is to hold a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday, as well as with US President Donald Trump by early June, with the North’s “denuclearization” expecte

Foreign Affairs April 23, 2018

North Korea will suspend all nuclear and missile tests and shut down a major nuclear test site with immediate effect and instead pursue economic growth, North Korea’s state media reported Saturday, explicitly signaling a shift in its pursuit of a nuclear weapons program.The North does have a history of pledging to halt the development of nuclear weapons only to renege on it, but the latest announcement shows its strong willingness to denuclearize and paves the way for resolving the decades-old n

North Korea April 21, 2018

South Korea on Saturday welcomed North Korea’s decision to suspend nuclear and missile tests and shut down a nuclear test site, hailing it as a “meaningful progress.” “North Korea’s decision is a meaningful progress for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula the world has hoped for,” the presidential office said in a statement. “It will create a very positive environment for the success of the upcoming inter-Korean and North-US summits.” (Herad DB)North Korea announced that it will stop nu

North Korea April 21, 2018

The US and China on Friday backed the two Koreas discussing a peace deal that could officially end the Korean War during an inter-Korean summit next week, giving a boost to efforts to build a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.  Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. YonhapThe US and China, together with North Korea, are signatories to the armistice, which left the two Koreas technically still at war since the 1950-1953 Korean War. “We would certainly like to see an end, a

Foreign Affairs April 20, 2018

On April 27, the world will be able to watch North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un cross the military demarcation line and shake hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. North Korea‘s agreement Wednesday to broadcast live key events of the upcoming inter-Korean summit is taken as an indication that Kim, the young leader of the isolated country, seeks to shed the negative image of his regime and show the world that he is the leader of a normal country.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife

North Korea April 19, 2018

Mike Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, recently travelled to North Korea to meet with its leader Kim Jong-un, US media reported Wednesday, boosting prospects for the upcoming North Korea-US summit. Pompeo, nominated to be the next US secretary of state, made the secret trip as an envoy of President Donald Trump over the Easter holiday, the Washington Post reported, quoting two people with direct knowledge of the trip. Pompeo’s trip, which was the highest-level meeting between

North Korea April 18, 2018

North Korea and China continue to warm ties ahead of Pyongyang’s planned summits with Seoul and Washington, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hailing Chinese art troupe’s visit to Pyongyang as “significant.”Kim said that the Chinese art troupe’s visit to the North “serves as a significant occasion in carrying forward and further consolidating the tradition of the two countries’ ties,” the Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday.In a sign of closer ties, a Chinese art troupe, led by Song T

Foreign Affairs April 17, 2018

For Remia Castor, a Filipina farmer living along the Jalaur, the river is not just a source of water. It is where she and her family have built their lives and culture for generations.　Today, the river is in crisis, she says, because of a dam construction project funded by the Korean government as part of its official development assistance in the Philippines.　“My ancestors have lived in this land and fought for it for several centuries, but it will be gone because of the project,” said the 49-y

International April 15, 2018