Trump-Kim summit unlikely before US presidential election: US envoy In this file photo taken on Feb. 27, 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un following a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi. AFPThe top U.S. envoy for North Korea said Monday that another summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is unlikely before the November presidential election in the United States.Stephen Biegun, deputy secretary of state and lead negotiator on North Korea's nuclear weapons program, made the comment during a virtual forum hosted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a think tank headquartered in Washington."I think it's probably unlikely between now and the U.S. election," he said in response to a question about the possibility of Trump and Kim meeting again."In the time remaining and with the wet blanket the COVID-19 has put over the entire world it's hard to envision the circumstances where we could do an in-person international summit, but certainly engagement between the two sides, and we're prepared to do so," he said.Trump and Kim have met three tiJun 30, 2020
Gov't gets tough on NK defectors By Kang Seung-wooThe government is seeking stronger measures against activist and North Korean defectors groups that have been sending anti-North Korea leaflets across the inter-Korean border, stating that their campaigns are not helping to create peace on the Korean Peninsula.Park Jung-oh, head of the North Korean defectors' group Keunsaem, speaks to reporters after attending a unification ministry hearing on whether its license will be revoked, at the Inter-Korean Dialogue Office in Seoul, Monday. / YonhapNorth Korea watchers say that the government's tough stance could lead to the campaigns losing ground here. On Monday, the Ministry of Unification held a hearing to give two North Korean defectors' groups a final opportunity to justify their actions before it makes a decision on whether to revoke their civic group licenses, following their sending of propaganda leaflets, rice and other items across the border. “We held a hearing today for Fighters for a Free North Korea and Kuensaem,” the ministry said in a press statement. “After checking whether there are any aJun 29, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Brinkmanship unlikely to save North Korea from sanctions An army soldier passes by a TV showing a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a news program at the Seoul Station in Seoul, Wednesday. AP-YonhapExperts say tension on the peninsula likely to persistBy Yi Whan-wooBy toning down the brinkmanship over South Korea this week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to be attempting to see if the Seoul can convince the United States to ease sanctions on his reclusive state.The sanctions, however, are likely to last as the world is unconvinced by the North's promises about denuclearization and as such the heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula will continue for the time being, according to international experts in email interviews.Joseph DeTrani, former U.S. special envoy for six-party talks with PyongyangThis is directly opposite to President Moon Jae-in's gesture for peace when he brought up declaring an end to the Korean War on the 70th anniversary of its outbreak, Thursday.Formally ending the war was an element of the Panmunjeom Declaration jointly announced during the first Moon-Kim summit in April 2018. The North sJun 26, 2020By Yi Whan-woo
Police raid office of anti-North Korea activist In this Oct. 22, 2012, file photo, Park Sang-hak, a North Korean refugee who launched balloons carrying propaganda balloons toward North Korea for years, hurls anti-North Korea leaflets as police block his planned rally on a road in Paju near demilitarized zone, South Korea. South Korea's police on Friday, June 26, 2020 raided the office of an activist whose anti-Pyongyang leafleting campaign has recently intensified tensions with North Korea. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)South Korea police on Friday raided the office of an activist whose anti-North Korea leafleting campaign has intensified tensions on the Korean Peninsula.Police said officers visited the Seoul office of Park Sang-hak to confiscate leaflets, account books and other related materials. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said that Park will be summoned soon for an investigation.Park, a North Korean refugee who has launched balloons carrying propaganda leaflets toward North Korea for years, has been in the spotlight after North Korea abruptly used his campaign as a justification for a series of provocative steps agaiJun 26, 2020
US names North Korea worst human trafficking nation for 18th year The U.S. State Department on Thursday designated North Korea as one of the worst human trafficking nations for the 18th consecutive year.The U.S. State Department on Thursday designated North Korea as one of the worst human trafficking nations for the 18th consecutive year.The department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report said the North Korean government did not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and did not make significant efforts to do so, leaving it in the lowest category of Tier 3."During the reporting period, there was a government policy or pattern of forced labor in mass mobilizations of adults and children, in prison camps as part of an established system of political repression, in labor training centers, and through its imposition of forced labor conditions on DPRK overseas contract workers," the report said, referring to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea."It used proceeds from state-sponsored forced labor to fund government functions, as well as other illicit activity. The government did not demonstJun 26, 2020
Over 1,300 separated family members died this year People living in North Korea hold hands of their separated family members in South Korea while bidding farewell following a three-day reunion event at Mount Geumgang resort in the North in this Aug. 26, 2018 photo. / Korea Time fileBy Kang Seung-wooOver 1,300 members of families separated by the Korean War died this year, government data showed, Thursday, unable to meet their loved ones due to soured inter-Korean relations. According to the unification ministry, a total of 1,379 people who had applied to see their long-lost relatives in North Korea, passed away without having their wishes fulfilled in the period of January to May. Among the total of 133,386 South Koreans who have registered as members of separated families, only 51,367, or 38.5 percent, were alive as of May. In addition, the survivors are aging as 65.4 percent of them are aged 80 or older, which is increasing the urgency of the humanitarian matter for the two Koreas.Following the inter-Korean summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in April 2018, where they agreed to discuss and solveJun 25, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
N. Korea's decision to suspend military action plans against S. Korea 'positive' sign: official North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's recent decision to suspend military action plans against South Korea is a "positive sign," a unification ministry official said Thursday, hoping that it could serve as a starting point for easing tensions and improving cross-border relations.Kim held a preliminary meeting of the ruling party's Central Military Commission on Tuesday and decided to call off military action plans that North Korea had taken against South Korea in anger over the sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the communist nation.The move came as a surprise given that Pyongyang has vowed to take a series of retaliatory steps, including military action against the South over the leafleting issue, raising questions about the reasons for the changed stance."The North's move to suspend military action plans at such a critical point is positive behavior," the ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "Such a change could be seen as the beginning of a positive signal.""We hope both Koreas can improve their relations and discuss issues of mutual concerns through dialogJun 25, 2020
US remains focused on denuclearizing North Korea: Pentagon official A man watches a TV screen showing a news program with a video of the demolition of the inter-Korean liaison office building in Kaesong, North Korea, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. APThe United States remains focused on denuclearizing North Korea amid Pyongyang's increased provocations against Seoul, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday.David Helvey, acting assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said the North's recent actions underscored the importance of maintaining a strong readiness posture between Washington and Seoul, with Pyongyang threatening to take military action before suspending such plans on Wednesday."Korea remains the hardest of hard targets," he said during a virtual seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's hard to determine tactically what North Korea is going to do on a day to day basis, even though I think we'd all agree that strategically, North Korea, particularly under Kim Jong-un, is very predictable and understandable."Helvey said the Department ofJun 25, 2020
Churches urge to prioritize end of war for peace on Korean Peninsula Officials of the cooperation body of church groups and civic organizations read a statement urging the government to prioritize the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War in Seoul, Tuesday. YonhapBy Park Ji-wonThe alliance of Korean churches urged the government to prioritize the signing of a declaration ending the 1950-53 Korean War and of a peace treaty for the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of the war, amid rising tension between the two Koreas.“Through the Korean War, we learned that violence cannot achieve peace and unification… There is no point to build rivalry over the regimes of the two Koreas,” the cooperation body of 14 protestant church groups and civic organizations for inter-Korean exchanges said in a statement, Tuesday.The group stressed that the relations between the two Koreas deteriorated due to some South Korean civic organizations launching leaflets to the North, which led the North's demolition of the joint liaison office in GaeseongJun 24, 2020By Park Ji-won
North Korean leader suspends military actions against South Korea By Kang Seung-wooNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has suspended envisaged military action against South Korea, the North's state-run media reported Wednesday, a move seen as diffusing rapidly escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula “temporarily.”North Korean leader Kim Jong-un / Korea Times fileHowever, the South Korean military still remains on alert over possible North Korean provocative actions, given that Pyongyang's decision was to “suspend” military actions, not cancel them. Experts say the North Korean regime is taking a breather, with a plan to take its next step based on the South Korean government's “sincerity” to normalize their frosty bilateral relations. According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the decision was made Tuesday when Kim presided over a preliminary meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) via videoconferencing. “At the preliminary meeting, the WPK Central Military Commission took stock of the prevailing situation and suspended military action plans against tJun 24, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
