Ahead of his trip to Japan and South Korea, US President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday that he would not meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. “I’ll be meeting with a lot of other people. Not … him,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying as he departed the White House for his flight to Asia. While ruling out the possibility of a one-on-one meeting with Kim, Trump hinted that there could be an interaction. “But I may be speaking with him in a different for

North Korea June 27, 2019

President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday it that North Korea can be considered to have entered an irreversible stage of denuclearization process when it dismantles a nuclear complex in Yongbyon. “If all the nuclear facilities in the complex, including the plutonium reprocessing facilities and the uranium enrichment facilities, are completely demolished and verified, it would be possible to say that the denuclearization of North Korea has entered an irreversible stage,” he said in a joint

North Korea June 26, 2019

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday a fresh summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may have been mentioned in letters he exchanged with Kim and they will meet “at some point” ahead of his visit to Seoul this weekend. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said his recent letter to Kim was a “nice” response to Kim’s birthday message to him. Trump turned 73 on June 14. Asked if a summit was mentioned in the exchange of letters with Kim, he said,

North Korea June 26, 2019

A South Korean woman, who was on an official government trip to Spain, was injured after trying to avoid robbery on a street in Barcelona, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.  The woman, who is known to be an official of a Korean government advisory committee, was sent to a hospital after she injured her head when she fell down on Sunday night. The unconscious woman was treated at the scene, according to Spanish media. After failing to snatch the victim’s belongings, the su

Foreign Affairs June 26, 2019

Positive signals sent back and forth between the US and North Korea are feeding hopes for a swift resumption of nuclear negotiations that have been at a standstill since the last summit between the two countries ended without results in late February. Within the past two weeks, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un each disclosed that they had received letters from each other, with both expressing satisfaction and hinting that the letters might be a sign of positive devel

North Korea June 24, 2019

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Seoul-based foreign diplomats visited a new hiking trail on the eastern coast portion of the Demilitarized Zone on Saturday.Kang, ambassadors and representatives from 52 countries traveled to the DMZ Peace Trails in Goseong, Gangwon Province, which the government opened to the public on April 27 to mark the first anniversary of the Panmunjom Declaration signed by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Kang said while hiking the course

Diplomatic Circuit June 24, 2019

US President Donald Trump is likely to visit the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea during his planned state visit to Seoul later this week, Japanese media reported Sunday. Following a summit with President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae on Sunday, Trump is expected to travel to the zone about 50 kilometers north of Seoul by helicopter. The DMZ has divided the country since the Korean War was halted in an armistice in 1953. The US president will pay a two-day state visit to the South

North Korea June 23, 2019

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un received a letter with “excellent content” from US President Donald Trump, according to the Korean Central News Agency on Sunday. Pyongyang’s official mouthpiece said that Kim expressed his satisfaction with the letter after reading it. “Appreciating the political judging faculty and extraordinary courage of President Trump, Kim Jong-un said that he would seriously contemplate the interesting content,” the KCNA said in a three-sentenc

North Korea June 23, 2019

The US Treasury Department slapped sanctions on a Russian financial company Wednesday for allegedly assisting North Korea evade sanctions, while Washington’s top nuclear negotiator called for dialogue with Pyongyang with no conditions attached. The Russian Financial Society is accused of opening multiple bank accounts since at least 2017 on behalf of Dandong Zhongsheng Industry & Trade, a company owned and controlled by the North Korean Foreign Trade Bank, Pyongyang’s primary for

North Korea June 20, 2019

South Korea has approached Japan with a proposal to support the Korean victims of wartime forced labor by encouraging companies in both countries to take part in joint fundraising efforts, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.“This idea has been raised that it is desirable to enable reconciliation between the concerned parties by offering compensation to the victims whose lawsuits have concluded, by creating funds voluntarily offered by companies from both countries, including the

Foreign Affairs June 19, 2019

The US is in contact with North Korea in various ways, South Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator Lee Do-hoon said Tuesday, raising hopes for the resumption of stalled nuclear talks between the two countries. “I believe various forms of contact are being made. I can tell you that we’re going in the direction where we can revive the momentum for dialogue,” he told reporters at Incheon Airport before boarding a plane bound for Washington. US President Donald Trump has hint

North Korea June 18, 2019

The risks are high for South Korea to just ignore or take sides in the yearlong trade war between the US and China, with the country vulnerable to changes in economic, diplomatic and security ties with the two global powers. Seoul was alarmed by Washington’s recent hard-hitting remarks that called for other countries to join its boycott equipment of Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies, amid mounting concerns over the trade conflict’s negative impact on its export-dependent econ

Foreign Affairs June 17, 2019

The United States pursues a one-time solution to get North Korea to eliminate its nuclear arsenal, Christopher Ashley Ford, assistant secretary of state for international security and non-proliferation, said Tuesday, in a stark contrast to the incremental approach that Pyongyang has been pushing for. “It may be that a one-time solution set can sometimes be generated within the nonproliferation enterprise itself. This is, after all, exactly what the United States aims to achieve with North

North Korea June 14, 2019

The government will discuss national security concerns over the use of Huawei Technologies’ equipment with related countries if necessary, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday as US ambassador to Korea stepped up calls to boycott the Chinese telecom giant.  “Regarding Huawai’s equipment issue, the government will be seeking a way that would respect corporate autonomy and wouldn’t impact the security of military communications,” a ministry official told

Foreign Affairs June 13, 2019

The US State Department said Wednesday that it is ready to hold working-level talks with North Korea on relinquishing its nuclear arsenal after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a letter to US President Donald Trump, the first direct contact between the two leaders in months. During a press briefing, US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus reaffirmed that the country is seeking to achieve lasting peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.“Here at the State D

North Korea June 13, 2019