US military continues to support diplomacy for North Korea's denuclearization In this file photo taken on March 26, 2019, Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan speaks during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee in Washington, DC. AFP-YonhapThe U.S. military has not changed its position as it continues to support diplomatic efforts to achieve North Korea's denuclearization, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Wednesday. At a congressional hearing, Shanahan was asked whether he knows of any negotiations between U.S. and North Korean officials since February's second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended without a deal."Denuclearization of North Korea remains the primary objective. Diplomacy is the primary track," he told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense."What I can tell you militarily is we have not changed our position, our operations or our strength and are continuing to conduct readiness exercises in the event diplomacy fails," he added.Shanahan said he was not aware that the North has resumed enrichment activities at its nuclear facilities or conducted missile teMay 2, 2019
UN council to go over North Korea's human rights By Yi Whan-wooThe U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will go over North Korea's human rights situation starting May 6, according to diplomatic sources, Wednesday. The examination will take place as part of the 33rd session of the working group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). It will take place from May 6 to 17 at the council's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.The UPR is held every five years. All U.N. member countries are subject to review and are given an opportunity to address their human rights situation and how they can develop it.The council conducted previous reviews on North Korea in 2009 and 2014.The 2019 review will be based partly on inquiries submitted online by other U.N. members, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Sweden, on the North's human rights record.Before finalizing its review, the council will also consider a self-evaluation report submitted by North Korea as well as opinions of other relevant U.N. bodies and independent human rights organizations.The sources said the inquiries submitted so far on North Korea focus on torture aMay 1, 2019By Yi Whan-woo
Tours to inter-Korean border region to resume on southern side President Moon Jae-in, right, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un take a stroll at the Foot Bridge on the South Korean side of the truce village at Panmunjeom in the border area, during their first summit on April 27, 2018. Korea Times fileCivilian tours to the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom were set to resume Wednesday, with access expanded to previously off-limit points, including a bridge that President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un strolled along during their first summit last year.The resumption came six months after the popular tours to the Joint Security Area (JSA) were suspended in October to facilitate joint efforts by South and North Korea to demilitarize the area. The joints efforts included the removal of mines, and went ahead under an agreement to reduce military tensions signed a month earlier. "We expect the field trips to offer visitors a chance to feel the peace mood and the reduction in military tensions on the Korean Peninsula," defense ministry spokesperson Choi Hyun-soo said.The resumption of the tours is timed to mark the first annivMay 1, 2019
Ex-US envoy calls Pyongyang 'corrupt mafia state' Secretary of State John Kerry, left, and State Department special envoy Robert King, center, listen as North Korean human rights activist Shin Dong-hyuk delivers remarks during an event on human rights in North Korea at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014 in New York. AP-YonhapA former U.S. envoy on Tuesday slammed North Korea as a "corrupt mafia state" after it emerged that the regime billed the U.S. $2 million dollars for the hospital care of an American detainee in 2017.Ambassador Robert King, who served as the State Department's special envoy for North Korean human rights issues from 2009 to 2017, issued a blistering attack on the North in the wake of last week's report by The Washington Post on the bill, which has since been confirmed by former and current U.S. officials."Why does North Korea detain U.S. citizens?" King wrote in a commentary for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Why does it engage in the petty thuggery of arresting and detaining U.S. citizens and charging some Americans huge hospital bills for medical treatment that was required May 1, 2019
North Korea is overconfident: experts In this April 9 photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un addresses the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers Party of Korea in Pyongyang. AP-YonhapBy Kim Yoo-chulNorth Korea is too confident in the denuclearization talks and its brand of “negotiation through strength” is more arrogance than strategy with potentially destabilizing consequences, experts said Tuesday.“The window provided by the Trump and Moon administrations is closing, and headwinds for the North Korean economy are building. If the Kim regime's overconfidence leads it to believe time is on its side, it is likely to make further miscalculations. The North continues to seek more for less,” Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University, said. The professor said Kim Jong-un “should meaningfully respond to engagement” while he can, as future terms of economic concessions may not be as generous. “North Korea's bargaining strategy tends to seek new concessions by playing its rivals Apr 30, 2019By Kim Yoo-chul
Young defector's mother urges South to stop her 'forcible repatriation' Participants in a street rally hold signs saying North Korean defectors should not be repatriated, in front of the Seoul Central Post Office in Seoul in this file photo taken Sept. 5, 2018. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungThe mother of a nine-year-old North Korean girl captured in China has pleaded with the South Korean government to stop her daughter from being forcibly repatriated to the North. According to the South's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Justice for North Korea, a nonprofit human rights organization, Monday, the girl was among seven North Korean defectors arrested recently by Chinese police. The Chinese authorities reportedly plan to hand them over to the North.The daughter, only identified by her surname Choi, was known to have kept in touch with her mother in South Korea through a broker, but her mother said she lost contact with her daughter Saturday morning, according to the civic group.The seven defectors, including Choi and her uncle, were hiding on the outskirts of Shenyang in Liaoning Province before being caught by the Chinese police, the organization said. They were beApr 30, 2019By Lee Min-hyung
Ex-diplomat says US signed to pay N. Korea for prisoner, should honor deal In this file photo taken on April 25, 2017, Joseph Yun (R), US special representative for North Korea policy, answers questions from reporters following a meeting with Japanese and South Korean chief nuclear negotiators at the Iikura Guesthouse in Tokyo. Yun confirmed on April 29 that North Korea asked for $2 million to release an American student who had fallen into a coma after alleged torture and said Washington should pay it. Joseph Yun, who had flown to Pyongyang in 2017 to bring back 22-year-old Otto Warmbier, said that North Korea presented him with a bill for his medical expenses. AFPA former diplomat confirmed Monday that the United States agreed to pay $2 million to North Korea to release an American student who had fallen into a coma after alleged torture ― and said Washington should honor the commitment.Joseph Yun, a veteran US diplomat who had flown to Pyongyang in 2017 to bring back 22-year-old Otto Warmbier, said that North Korea presented him with a $2 million bill for his medical expenses.He said he called up then secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who he believed theApr 30, 2019
Bolton rebuffs Putin's proposal for six-party talks By Lee Min-hyungU.S. National Security Advisor John BoltonThe United States is skeptical of reviving the stalled six-party dialogue on the nuclear disarmament of North Korea, as the approach failed to generate outcomes in the past, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said Sunday (local time).“I think it's not what our preference is,” Bolton told Fox News.The remark came in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent proposal for the resumption of the six-party talks to settle the North Korea nuclear issue. The suggestion was raised following his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last week.Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul also showed skepticism toward Putin's proposal. He said last week the priority at the moment was to revive dialogue between North Korea and the United States, and realize another inter-Korean summit to move the denuclearization talks forward.Bolton said Washington was not seeking to exclude other countries from the ongoing denuclearization talks with Pyongyang, but that Washington did not view the multilateral approach as a faApr 29, 2019By Lee Min-hyung
Civic group claims 7 North Korean defectors face repatriation from China YonhapSeven North Korean defectors are facing repatriation to their communist homeland from China, a civic group claimed Monday, calling for the Seoul government to help prevent their return.The defectors include a 9-year-old girl identified by the surname Choe and her 32-year-old uncle, identified only as Kang, Justice for North Korea claimed. They had been hiding on the outskirts of Shenyang after crossing the Yalu River into China earlier this month, according to the group.They and five other North Korean defectors staying there are facing repatriation to North Korea after they were recently arrested by Chinese authorities, it claimed.Choe's mother, who lives in South Korea, reported their arrests to the South Korean consulate in Shenyang on Sunday, the group said, expressing concerns that the defectors could face serious punishment if sent back.It called on South Korea to make diplomatic efforts to block their repatriation. Seoul's foreign ministry said that it has been taking "necessary steps" regarding the defectors immediately after it learned of their situation.But it said thApr 29, 2019
North Korea, trade high on agenda for Trump-Abe meeting U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, April 26. The meeting comes on the heels of the recent nuclear talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin. APNorth Korea's nuclear program and trade are at the top of the agenda for President Donald Trump's meeting Friday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, one of the president's key backers on the world stage. The meeting comes on the heels of Thursday's nuclear talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Trump's second summit with Kim in Hanoi in February ended with no agreement, but the president says progress is being made. ``I have a great relationship with Kim Jong Un,'' Trump told reporters at the White House. ``I appreciate that Russia and China are helping us. And China is helping us because I think they want to _ they don't need nuclear weapons right next to their country. But I also think they're helping us'' because the U.S. and China are engaged in tradeApr 29, 2019
