Seized North Korean ship sold, towed from American Samoa This May 11, 2019, file photo shows the North Korean cargo ship Wise Honest, middle, being towed into port in Pago Pago, American Samoa. The U.S. Coast Guard said the ship, which was suspected of being used to violate international sanctions, has been sold and towed from American Samoa. APThe U.S. Coast Guard says a seized North Korean cargo ship suspected of being used to violate international sanctions has been sold and towed from American Samoa. The U.S. seized the Wise Honest in May and towed it to the port of Pago Pago in the U.S. territory. The parents of Otto Warmbier filed a claim for the ship, seeking to collect on a multimillion-dollar judgment awarded in the American college student's death. They say their son was tortured in North Korea after being convicted of trying to steal a propaganda poster. The Justice Department didn't immediately return an after-hours phone message Tuesday seeking details about the sale. Before the U.S. seized the vessel, it had been detained by Indonesia in 2018 while transporting a large amount of coal. (AP)Oct 9, 2019
Europeans urge strict sanctions enforcement on North Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong-un / YonhapEuropean members of the UN Security Council called Tuesday for the strict enforcement of international sanctions against North Korea, after a closed door meeting prompted by Pyongyang's latest missile test."International sanctions must remain in place and be fully and strictly enforced," they said in a statement read by French ambassador Nicolas Riviere.Joining France in the statement was Belgium, Germany, Poland and Britain as well as Estonia, which becomes a council member in January.In a rare encounter with journalists on Monday, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations, Kim Song, assailed the Europeans for doing Washington's bidding in seeking the Security Council meeting."The United States and its followers should bear in mind that if they raise the issue of our self-defensive measures at the UN Security Council meeting in this moment, it will further (increase) our desire to defend our sovereignty," he said.The North fired a sea-launched missile October 2 in the latest ― and most provocative ― in a series of missile tests, just daysOct 9, 2019
Pyongyang media slams Seoul after Stockholm talks break down President Donald Trump meets with Korean President Moon Jae-in at the InterContinental Barclay hotel during the United Nations General Assembly, Monday, Sept. 23, 2019, in New York. AP-YonhapA North Korean propaganda outlet lashed out at South Korea on Tuesday over its U.S. arms purchase plans, calling the move an "intolerable act of betrayal."In a commentary, Uriminzokkiri, one of the North's propaganda websites, said President Moon Jae-in "behaved indecently in a servile attitude" by accepting Washington's "coercion" to buy more U.S.-made arms. It did not directly mention Moon's name, but referred to him as "South Korea's leader on a U.S. tour."Moon visited New York last month where he held talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. During the meeting, Moon presented data on South Korea's purchase of U.S. weapons systems over the past decade and its plans to buy more in the next three years, according to a presidential official."What cannot be overlooked is that the South Korean authorities, while talking of 'dialogue' and 'peace' every time they open their mouth, is publicly plottingOct 8, 2019
US, North Korea fail to reach accord in Sweden talks Kim Myong-gil, North Korea's top nuclear negotiator, reads a statement outside the North Korean embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, Sunday (KST) after working-level nuclear talks with his U.S. counterpart, Stephen Biegun. Joint Press CorpsMoon's peace process faces hurdlesBy Lee Min-hyungWith the highly-anticipated resumption of nuclear disarmament talks between the United States and North Korea ending in another breakdown, concern is growing that the situation will again put South Korea's planned peace initiatives on hold.The working-level negotiations started Saturday afternoon (KST) in the Swedish capital of Stockholm and lasted for about eight hours amid hopes for a possible breakthrough in the dialogue that had been stalled in the wake of the failed Hanoi summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in February. But once again, the two parties failed to narrow their differences on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The North's chief negotiator Kim Myong-gil announced early Sunday the “breakdown” of the talks in a rare meeting wiOct 6, 2019By Lee Min-hyung
INTERVIEW Separated families cry out for humanitarian policy for reunion The sun sets on the inter-Korean ceasefire line, June 25, 2000, 50 years after the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War. The war ended with an Armistice Agreement but the two Koreas remain separated after nearly seven decades, with July 27, 2019, marking the 66th anniversary of the armistice. Korea Times fileJoy Lee tells her story as Korean-American missing family in North KoreaBy Jung Da-min Joy Lee Powell Gebhard, an 84 year-old Korean American, still vividly remembers the moment she said goodbye to her mother. It was Dec. 3, 1950, after the Chinese People's Army had intervened in the Korean War pushing the South Korean Armed Forces and the United Nations forces backwards. Lee was a 15 year-old girl just ahead of entering a high school in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. Born in a house opposite the Taedong River in 1935, her given name was Bok-shin. Joy Lee Powell Gebhard / Courtesy of Joy Lee Powell Gebhard“My family had had a good harvest that year,” Lee recalled, during a recent phone interview with The Korea Times. As Lee was leaving her mother, along with othOct 6, 2019
US-North Korea talks end in contrasting assessments In this June 30, 2019, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the North Korean side of the border at the village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone. North Korea's chief negotiator says discussions with the U.S. on Pyongyang's nuclear program have broken down, but Washington says the two sides had "good discussions" that it intends to build on in two weeks. APNorth Korea and the United States walked away on Saturday with opposing assessments of nuclear talks in Sweden, which Pyongyang said broke down but Washington called "good discussions."The United States accepted host Sweden's invitation to resume talks in two weeks' time, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.The discussions followed months of stalemate after a February meeting between the North's leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, and came after Pyongyang's defiant test of a sea-launched ballistic missile on Wednesday."The negotiations have not fulfilled our expectations and finally broke up... without any outcome. (It) is totally due to the fact that tOct 6, 2019
North Korea, US to hold preliminary nuclear talks in Stockholm Members of the North Korean delegation arrive at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport in Sweden, Thursday (local time). YonhapU.S. and North Korean officials were set to meet in Sweden on Friday, the eve of their formal working-level nuclear talks, after the communist nation ratcheted up tensions with a test-firing of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile.The two sides are expected to have "preliminary contact" in Stockholm in the morning (local time) before their first official negotiations since the no-deal summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi in February.The exact time and venue for Friday's meeting have yet to be officially announced ― a sign that Washington and Pyongyang want to stay focused on the high-stakes talks without being sidetracked by outside attention.The deputy chiefs of the countries' delegations ― Mark Lambert of the U.S. and Kwon Jong-gun of the North ― were expected to attend the preliminary session. Top U.S. nuclear envoy, Stephen Biegun, and his counterpart, Kim Myong-gil, could also appear to exchange greetings, obsOct 4, 2019
North Korea fired submarine-launched missiles: Cheong Wa Dae In this 2015 photo released by North Korea's Korea Central Television, a North Korean submarine fires Pukkuksong-1. YonhapSouth Korea's National Security Council (NSC) expressed strong concern Wednesday about North Korea's test of what is believed to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).In connection with North Korea's firing of a projectile earlier in the day, the NSC is placing "weight on the possibility" that it was a SLBM test, Cheong Wa Dae said.It was giving a briefing on the results of an emergency NSC standing committee session, presided over by Chung Eui-yong, head of the national security office.In the videoconferencing session, the panel's members voiced "strong concern" over the North's move that came just ahead of the resumption of its working-level talks with the United States, according to Cheong Wa Dae.They agreed to conduct a precise analysis of the projectile's characteristics and Pyongyang's intention through close coordination between the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the U.S., it added.They also decided to make diplomatic efforts so thatOct 2, 2019By Ko Dong-hwan
North Korea fires short-range projectiles toward East Sea People watch a TV showing a file image of an unspecified North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, Sept. 10, 2019. AP-YonhapNorth Korea fired unidentified short-range projectiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, ahead of the envisioned resumption of the stalled denuclearization talks with the United States.The projectiles were launched from an area in the eastern coastal town of Wonsan earlier in the day, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said without providing further details, such as their type, flight range and maximum altitude.Sources said the North is believed to have fired two projectiles, and the JCS spotted one of the firings at 7:11 a.m."Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture," the JCS said in a release.According to foreign media reports, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference that North Korea launched two ballistic missiles and one of them fell into the country's exclusive economic zone.The fOct 2, 2019
North Korea, US agree to resume nuke talks North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui / Korea Times fileNorth Korea and the United States agreed to resume their working-level nuclear talks this week, Pyongyang's state media reported Tuesday, citing a statement from a senior diplomat.First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said that Washington and Pyongyang agreed to hold "preliminary contact on Oct. 4 and hold working-level negotiations on Oct. 5," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).Choe did not mention the venue for the upcoming talks."The delegates of the DPRK side are ready to enter into the DPRK-U.S. working-level negotiations," Choe said in a statement. DPRK stands for the North's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea."It is my expectation that the working-level negotiations would accelerate the positive development of the DPRK-U.S. relations," she added.Pyongyang recently expressed its intent to return to dialogue after a period of tensions caused by its angry reactions to the combined military exercise between Washington and Seoul in August.Seoul welcomed the proposOct 1, 2019
