Denuclearization will be at center of new North Korea policy: US U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price speaks at the State Department in Washington, March 31. ReutersDenuclearization of North Korea will be at the center of any new U.S. policy toward the reclusive nation, a State Department spokesman said Thursday, adding the country's policy review will soon be concluded.Ned Price also said any U.S. policy toward North Korea will be executed in "lockstep" with key U.S. allies, including South Korea and Japan."I wouldn't want to prejudge the conclusion of any ongoing review, but we have said that denuclearization will remain at the center of American policy towards North Korea," Price said at a daily press briefing, when asked if the U.S. will publish the outcome of its policy review that he said "is coming to a conclusion.""We also know that any approach to North Korea, in order to be effective, will be one that we will have to execute in lockstep with our close allies, including in this case our treaty allies Japan and South Korea," said Price.His remarks also came as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is set to host his South Korean andApr 2, 2021
Half of foreign embassies closed in North Korea amid COVID-19 restrictions A photo captured from the Russian Embassy's Facebook page shows the headquarters of North Korea's foreign ministry in Pyongyang. YonhapNorth Korea's highly restrictive coronavirus measures and lack of essential goods have caused many foreign embassies to close and international humanitarian workers to leave the country, the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang said Thursday.In a post on its official Facebook page, the embassy said a total of 12 nations, including the United Kingdom, Germany and France, closed their missions due to pandemic-caused challenges and that there now remain only nine ambassadors and four diplomats who work as acting ambassadors. There are about 25 foreign embassies in Pyongyang.All foreign workers of international humanitarian organizations have left the country and there are fewer than 290 foreigners in the capital, it added.The Russian Embassy wrote about the difficulties that diplomatic missions and others are facing in their daily lives, such as a lack of essential goods and medicine, in a country isolated from the outside world even before the pandemic.The embaApr 1, 2021
Now for the hard part: Biden in new chapter of North Korea saga U.S. President Joe Biden, and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un / Korea Times fileTeam Biden would seek coalition with allies, but outcome not promising By Robert A. ManningI knew Pyongyang's quiet couldn't last. Through U.S. President Joe Biden's impressive flurry of Asian diplomacy ― unprecedented Quad summit, 2+2 ministerial meetings, first with Japan, then South Korea, and meeting with Beijing on U.S. soil ― North Korea didn't steal the show.Robert A. ManningThen the cycle began, right out of the well-worn North Korea playbook for testing new U.S. presidents. First, the cruise missile tests, apparently part of Pyongyang's training cycles. Then the short-range guided ballistic missiles allegedly in response to what where largely tabletop computer U.S.-ROK military exercises. This was, of course, accompanied by harsh, threatening words, first by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, warning the U.S., “If it wants to sleep in peace for coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step.” Then by Ri Pyong-chol, a top general, warApr 1, 2021
North Korea steals over $300 million to support weapons development in 2020: UN panel North Korean leader Kim Jong-un / YonhapNorth Korea continued to blatantly violated U.N. Security Council resolutions last year, stealing more than US$300 million in virtual assets to support its illegal development of weapons of mass destruction, a U.N. report said Wednesday.The impoverished country also continued to illicitly import oil, several times the amount allowed under U.N. Security Council resolutions, according to the report from a panel of experts under the U.N. Security Council committee on North Korea sanctions."The Panel continues to assess that cyberactors linked to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea continued to conduct operations against financial institutions and virtual currency exchange houses in 2020 to generate revenue to support its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes," the report said.The report added one U.N. member country has estimated the value of virtual assets stolen by North Korea between 2019 and November 2020 to be US$316.4 million.The panel of experts also said some of the "malicious cyberactivities" of the North wereApr 1, 2021
Steam detected at North Korea's plutonium reprocessing plant: US think tank People watch a TV showing an image of North Korea's new guided missile during a news program at the Suseo Railway Station in Seoul, March 26. Recent satellite imagery showed steam from the plutonium reprocessing plant at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex, a U.S. think tank said on March 31. APRecent satellite imagery showed steam from the plutonium reprocessing plant at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex, a U.S. think tank said Wednesday, an indication of activity at the facility used to extract the key nuclear weapon ingredient.The imagery taken on Tuesday shows a plume of steam or smoke emanating from a small support building in the center of the reprocessing plant, known as the Radiochemical Laboratory, according to Beyond Parallel, a project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.The facility is used to reprocess spent fuel rods to extract plutonium, a fissile material used to build nuclear weapons along with highly enriched uranium. About 6 kilograms of plutonium is required a build a nuclear bomb. In recent weeks, steam has also been observed Mar 31, 2021
US will hold North Korea accountable for 'egregious' human rights violations: official U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary Lisa Peterson of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor speaks during the release of the "2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" at the State Department in Washington, DC, March 30. ReutersThe United States will hold North Korea accountable for its "egregious" human rights violations, a State Department official said Tuesday, as it released an annual human rights report.Lisa Peterson, acting assistant secretary of state in the bureau of democracy, human rights and labor, made the remarks, reaffirming human rights will be an "indispensable" element of the Joe Biden administration's policy toward Pyongyang.The State Department published the 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which cited reports of North Korean authorities committing "arbitrary and unlawful" killings and other abuses, such as forced disappearances by the government. "The State Department, together with the interagency, is currently undergoing a North Korea policy review process, and human rights will remain an indispensable component of our overall policy tMar 31, 2021
Moon's peace initiative faces more deadlock President Moon Jae-in speaks during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday. YonhapBiden has no intention to meet with Kim Jon-unBy Kang Seung-wooPresident Moon Jae-in's stalled Korean Peninsula peace process, seeking engagement between South and North Korea and the United States, appears to be doomed, according to diplomatic observers, as the two other partners have been dashing his last flickers of hope with their continuing tug-of-war over the North's denuclearization.On Monday (local time), White House press secretary Jen Psaki said U.S. President Joe Biden does not intend to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, adding that his approach to Pyongyang will be “quite different” from that of his predecessor, former President Donald Trump who met Kim three times. Her remarks reaffirmed the new U.S. president's pursuit of an approach different from that of Trump, who had sought progress in North Korean denuclearization through direct leader-to-leader engagement that Moon was also supportive of. Hours later, Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader's sister, made a harMar 30, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Biden does not intend to meet with North Korean leader: White House U.S. President Joe Biden / ReutersU.S. President Joe Biden does not intend to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as his approach to Pyongyang will be "quite different," the White House said Monday.During a press conference on Thursday, Biden said that the United States would respond accordingly if the North escalates tensions in the wake of its recent missile tests and that he is also prepared for some form of diplomacy."I think his approach would be quite different, and that is not his intention," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a press briefing in response to a question of whether Biden's diplomacy includes sitting with the North Korean leader.Psaki's remarks reaffirmed Biden's pursuit of an approach different from that of former President Donald Trump, who had sought progress in Pyongyang's denuclearization through direct leader-to-leader engagement.At Thursday's press conference, Biden signaled openness to diplomacy with the North but made clear that "it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization."The U.S. is expected to complete its review of polMar 30, 2021
US eyes additional UN action on North Korea after missile tests gettyimagesbankThe Biden administration said Monday it's looking at ``additional actions'' that the United Nations might take to respond to North Korea's recent missile tests.U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield wasn't specific about what those actions might entail, but noted that the UN Security Council had met last week and renewed the mandate of experts who monitor sanctions against the North. The council is also expected to hold closed-door discussions on North Korea on Tuesday.``We're looking at additional actions that we might take,'' Thomas-Greenfield said of the U.S. and others Security Council members.Meanwhile, President Joe Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan will be meeting in Washington soon with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea to discuss North Korea strategy as the administration finalizes a review of how to approach the country. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who recently returned from Tokyo and Seoul, said the three countries are united in dealing with the challenges posed by Pyongyang.``What we're seeing from PyongMar 30, 2021
North Korean leader's sister slams Moon for his recent missile criticism Kim Yo-jong, a sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un / YonhapThe sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday criticized South Korean President Moon Jae-in for his speech on the North's recent missile launches, saying his sentiments are counterproductive and reflective of the United States' "gangster-like logic."Kim Yo-jong made the criticism in a statement after Moon said on Friday in a speech that any action that could undercut the mood for dialogue is "undesirable," hours after Pyongyang confirmed its test-firing of short-range ballistic missiles. She said it makes no sense for Moon to criticize the North's "self-defense" missile test after he described South Korea's own missile tests as efforts to build peace and dialogue in a speech in July last year."He meant the test-firing of ballistic missiles conducted by the Defense Science Institute of South Korea is for peace and dialogue in the Korean peninsula but that conducted by the Academy of Defense Science of the DPRK is something undesirable that arouses serious concern among the people in the South and chills the atMar 30, 2021
