Pompeo: talks with N.K. to resume in couple of weeks U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that he expects working-level talks with North Korea to resume in a couple of weeks despite the regime's missile launches earlier the same day.In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Pompeo downplayed the two short-range ballistic missile launches as a negotiating tactic."Everybody tries to get ready for negotiations and create leverage and create risk for the other side," Pompeo said."It will be in a couple of weeks, I anticipate," he said when asked if working-level talks will be held next week.At an impromptu meeting at the inter-Korean border on June 30, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to resume the working-level talks that had stalled after their second summit in Vietnam in February ended without a deal.Trump and Pompeo earlier said the talks would restart in mid-July, but last week the North warned it would be contingent on whether South Korea and the U.S. conduct joint military exercises scheduled for next month.Pompeo said in the interview that what is more important than the day is hoJul 26, 2019
Kim warns S. Korea: 'No more weapons development, military drills' North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a submarine factory in an undisclosed location, North Korea, in this undated picture released by North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA) on July 23, 2019. KCNA via REUTERSA day after two North Korean missile launches rattled Asia, the nation announced Friday that it had tested a ``new-type tactical guided weapon'' that was meant to be a ``solemn warning'' about South Korean weapons development and its rival's plans to hold military exercises.The message in the country's state media quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and was directed at ``South Korean military warmongers.'' It comes as U.S. and North Korean officials struggle to set up talks after a recent meeting on the Korean border between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump seemed to provide a step forward in stalled nuclear negotiations.Although the North had harsh words for South Korea, the statement stayed away from the kind of belligerent attacks on the United States that have marked past announcements, a possible signal that it's interested in keeping diplomacy alive.It made clear, Jul 26, 2019
North Korea fires 2 short-range missiles into East Sea North Korea fired two short-range missiles from Wonsan, Kangwon Province, into the East Sea on Thursday morning, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the photo released by North Korean state-run Korean Central Television (KCTV), a North Korean missile is being launched from a transporter erector launcher on May 9, 2019. KCTV-Yonhap By Jung Da-minNorth Korea launched two short-range missiles Thursday morning while North Korean military was conducting summer training, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). JCS said the two missiles were detected at around 5:34 a.m. and 5:57 a.m. respectively, from around Wonsan in Kangwon Province, both flying around 430 kilometers into the sea off its east coast. But the U.S. military authority was assessing that the second missile flew longer than 430 kilometers, the South's military authority added. The missiles are speculated to be fired from transporter erector launchers (TELs), at an altitude around 50 to 60 kilometers, raising speculations that it is the same type of the missiles launched by the North in MayJul 25, 2019
North Korea fires 2 unidentified projectiles into East Sea North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles from Wonsan, Gangwon Province, into the East Sea on Thursday morning, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the photo released by North Korean state-run Korean Central Television, a North Korean missile is being launched from a transporter erector launcher on May 9, 2019. YonhapBy Ko Dong-hwanSouth Korea said Thursday Pyongyang has launched two unidentified projectiles into the sea off its east coast. The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectile launch came from an area near the eastern city of Wonsan in Gangwon Province. The authority said the projectiles were fired at 5:34 a.m. and 5:57 a.m. each and flew about 430 kilometers. The authority said that based on the distance, the projectiles appeared similar to the Iskander-class short-range missiles Pyongyang had fired off two times in last May. Pyongyang's latest projectile firing came in 78 days since May 9.A senior U.S. government official told Yonhap News Agency following the firing that the U.S. is aware of reports that North Korea has launched a projectile.Jul 25, 2019By Ko Dong-hwan
Not yet time for talks: Trump North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un inspects a “newly built submarine” which will be deployed in the East Sea of the North, the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday. KCNA-YonhapBy Jung Da-minWashington will start holding working-level nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea once Pyongyang is “ready,” U.S. President Donald Trump said early Tuesday (KST).“There was a little correspondence recently, very positive correspondence, with North Korea,” Trump told reporters at the White House, reaffirming that he and Kim have a “very good relationship.”“When they’re ready — when they’re ready, we’ll be meeting,” the U.S. president said without specifiying a time for when the working-level talks will take place and whether the correspondence was between him and Kim Jong-un or other staff.Hours after Trump’s remarks, North Korea’s state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported its leader Kim Jong-un inspected a “newly built submarine.” Political experts Jul 23, 2019
Trump: 'very positive' correspondence recently with N. Korea Korea Times fileU.S. President Donald Trump said Monday there was "very positive" correspondence recently with North Korea and that the two sides will meet for nuclear talks when the communist regime is ready.Trump's remark comes after he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held an impromptu meeting at the inter-Korean border on June 30 and agreed to resume working-level talks on the denuclearization of the regime.Asked by reporters if the talks have been scheduled, Trump said, "No, we just have a very good relationship and probably they would like to meet."The negotiations had been expected to resume in mid-July, but the North Koreans have reportedly been silent on a U.S. offer for talks."We'll see what happens," Trump said at the start of a meeting with Pakistan's prime minister at the White House. "There was a little correspondence recently, very positive correspondence with North Korea. Again, there's no nuclear testing, there's no missile testing, there's no nothing. I think we will, yeah, at a certain point, when they're ready we'll be meeting."North Korea warned last week thatJul 23, 2019
North Korea calls Japan's export curbs politically motivated A notice campaigning for a boycott of Japanese-made products is displayed at a store in Seoul, South Korea, July 12. APA North Korean propaganda outlet slammed Japan on Saturday for hampering efforts to create a reconciliatory mood on the Korean Peninsula with its retaliatory steps against South Korea suggesting Seoul's possible violations of sanctions on Pyongyang.Early this month, Japan tightened regulations on exports to South Korea of three critical industrial materials in apparent retaliation over last year's South Korean Supreme Court rulings that ordered Japanese firms to compensate victims of forced labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.Tokyo accused South Korea of violating U.N. sanctions on the North, but provided no evidence for the claim. Seoul flatly rejected the allegations and asked that Tokyo agree to have an international panel of experts look into the matter."The economic retaliation sets its sights on the South but North Korea will not deal with it as a fire breaking out across the river," Choson Sinbo, a North Korean propaganda websiteJul 20, 2019
Pompeo rejects North Korean charges on military drills U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo looks on during a joint news conference with Argentina's Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie at the end of the Hemispheric Anti-Terrorism Summit, in Buenos Aires, July 19. ReutersU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has rejected charges from North Korea's Foreign Ministry that U.S. plans for military exercises with South Korea are in breach of verbal agreements made between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump.A ministry spokesman said Tuesday that Trump had reaffirmed in a meeting with Kim last month that joint exercises would be halted and the U.S. decision to forge ahead with them was “clearly a breach” of the two leaders' agreements at their summit in Singapore last year.The spokesman said this was putting a resumption of nuclear talks with the United States at risk, and Washington's pattern of “unilaterally reneging on its commitments” was leading Pyongyang to reconsider its commitment to discontinue tests of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.Pompeo was asked about the North Korean sJul 20, 2019
Sanctions halve North Korea's 2018 trade By Nam Hyun-wooNorth Korea's trade was halved last year, in an apparent consequence of United Nations Security Council sanctions on the reclusive regime, a report showed Friday.According to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency report, North Korea's trade volume last year was $2.84 billion, down 48.8 percent from a year earlier. It was the first time that the regime's trade fell below $3 billion since Kim Jong-un took the helm. It was also the second consecutive year in which trade volume declined.Exports plunged 86.3 percent to $243 million from a year earlier and imports declined 31.2 percent to $2.6 billion. The trade deficit expanded by 17.5 percent to $2.36 billion from $2.01 billion. KOTRA attributed the decline to the United Nations Security Council sanctions on North Korea.Resolution 2371, which took effect in August 2017, bans U.N. member nations from importing North Korean coal, iron ore and seafood. Resolution 2375, which came into force a month later, bans purchasing textiles from North Korea and selling natural gas condensates and liquids to the regime. Resolution Jul 19, 2019By Nam Hyun-woo
American suspect in N. Korea Embassy raid released on bail A U.S. citizen accused of involvement in a raid on the North Korean Embassy in Madrid in February has been released on bail as he awaits a court trial on possible extradition to Spain. Christopher Ahn, a 38-year-old Korean-American and former Marine, was released Tuesday for a $1.3 million bail under the condition of home confinement. He was arrested in April following an extradition request from Spain, which has accused him and his anti-North Korea group of raiding and stealing computers and documents from the North Korean mission on Feb. 22.A California judge ordered Ahn's release earlier this month, though he has to wear an ankle monitor and remain at home except for medical appointments and church. Ahn is a member of Free Joseon, which has claimed responsibility for February's raid and said it shared the stolen materials with the FBI. Adrian Hong, who has been named as the leader of the intruders, is also wanted in the United States but remains in hiding. In an earlier statement, the group said it consists of members both in and outside North Korea, and is committed to ending theJul 18, 2019
