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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

Seoul, Washington, Tokyo to continue joint nuclear efforts

(From Top) South Korean's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs Lee Do-hoon, the Japanese foreign ministry's director general of Asia and Oceania affairs Kenji Kanasugi, and the United States top nuclear envoy Stephen Biegun. Yonhap, AFP-YonhapThe top nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States met in Washington Wednesday and agreed to continue close coordination on North Korea, Seoul's foreign ministry said.Lee Do-hoon, South Korean's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, held talks with his American counterpart, Stephen Biegun, in the wake of last week's second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.The leaders met in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27 and 28 but failed to reach an agreement on dismantling the North's nuclear weapons program.South Korea is keen to ensure momentum in U.S.-North Korea talks to achieve its ultimate goal of lasting peace on the peninsula."The U.S. side provided a more detailed explanation of the outcome of the second North Korea-U.S. summit, South

Mar 7, 2019
Seoul, Washington, Tokyo to continue joint nuclear efforts
  • 'I would be disappointed if Pyongyang is rebuilding missile site': Trump

'I would be disappointed if Pyongyang is rebuilding missile site': Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump participates in an American Workforce Policy Advisory Board meeting in the White House State Dining Room in Washington, U.S., March 6, 2019. Reuters-YonhapU.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would be "disappointed" if reports that North Korea is rebuilding a missile engine test site are true.Trump made the remark at the White House when asked about two U.S. reports that North Korea is rebuilding the Sohae satellite launching facility, which it began to dismantle last year."I would be very disappointed if that were happening," he told reporters. "It's a very early report. We're the ones that put it out. But I would be very, very disappointed in Chairman Kim, and I don't think I will be.""We'll take a look," he said. "It'll ultimately get solved."Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, last week to negotiate a deal on dismantling the regime's nuclear weapons program in exchange for sanctions relief.The summit was cut short without an agreement due to differences over the extent of denuclearization and s

Mar 7, 2019
'I would be disappointed if Pyongyang is rebuilding missile site': Trump
  • PHOTOS North Korea rebuilding long-range rocket site: spy agency
  • All eyes on Kim Jong-un's next step
  • US may ramp up sanctions: Bolton
  • 'Spy chief may visit North Korea soon to revive nuke talks'
  • Seoul, Washington, Tokyo to continue joint nuclear efforts
  • 'Pyongyang still running uranium enrichment facilities'

INTERVIEW Sanctions relief unlikely to revive North Korea economy

By Lee Kyung-min Even if all sanctions were lifted, North Korea's economy would remain in “bad shape” without further reforms, according to a Washington-based North Korea expert. Bill BrownDe-collectivization coupled with the selling of state assets to rich North Koreans should be the two-pronged approach taken in reforming the North's crippled economy, Bill Brown, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, said in an email interview.His remarks came a week after a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un broke down over disagreements on sanctions. De-collectivization, which recognizes the advantages and greater role of markets, will help speed up individual contracts, thereby leading to a market economy ruled by supply and demand, with the desired outcome of rapid economic growth, he said.Currently, under the collectivization system, the rural population is guaranteed a secure but low level of subsistence. Brown expressed hope that the North would promptly de-collectivize as China did 30 years ago

Mar 6, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
[INTERVIEW] Sanctions relief unlikely to revive North Korea economy

North Korea food production 'lowest for a decade': UN

North Korea recorded its worst harvest for more than a decade last year, the United Nations said Wednesday, as natural disasters combined with its lack of arable land and inefficient agriculture to hit production.The isolated North, which is under several sets of sanctions over its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes, has long struggled to feed itself and suffers chronic food shortages.But last year's harvest was just 4.95 million tonnes, the United Nations said in its Needs and Priorities assessment for 2019, down by 500,000 tonnes.It was "the lowest production in more than a decade", the UN's Resident Coordinator in the North Tapan Mishra said in a statement."This has resulted in a significant food gap."As a result 10.9 million people in the North needed humanitarian assistance -- 600,000 more than last year -- with a potential for increased malnutrition and illness.It is equivalent to 43 percent of the population.But while the number of people needing help rose, the UN has had to cut its target for people to help -- from 6.0 million to 3.8 million -- as it seeks to pri

Mar 6, 2019
North Korea food production 'lowest for a decade': UN
  • 'Spy chief may visit North Korea soon to revive nuke talks'

PHOTOS North Korea rebuilding long-range rocket site: spy agency

The Sohae Satellite Launching Station features what researchers of Beyond Parallel, a CSIS project, describe as the vertical engine stand partially rebuilt with two construction cranes, several vehicles and supplies laying on the ground in a commercial satellite image taken over Tongchang-ri, North Korea on March 2, 2019 and released March 5, 2019. ReutersThere are signs that North Korea is making efforts to rebuild part of a recently dismantled missile launch site, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday, citing intelligence officials in Seoul.According to the report, which cited a briefing by South Korea's National Intelligence Service, Pyongyang seems to have put a roof and door back on the Sohae launch facility, which was taken down in 2018.The South Korean intelligence service was quoted as saying that "the US information is the same as ours," according to Yonhap.The briefing also shared that a 5-megawatt reactor in the Yongbyon nuclear complex had not been operated since late last year, and that underground tunnels at the Punggye Ri nuclear test site remain shut.Th

Mar 6, 2019
North Korea rebuilding long-range rocket site: spy agency [PHOTOS]
  • 'Spy chief may visit North Korea soon to revive nuke talks'
  • 'I would be disappointed if Pyongyang is rebuilding missile site': Trump

Pompeo: 'North Korea, not Kim Jong-un, responsible for Warmbier's death'

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has refused to say North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is responsible for the 2017 death of a U.S. college student who was imprisoned by the regime.The case of Otto Warmbier, who died shortly after returning from the North in a coma, has resurfaced in the media after President Donald Trump said following his nuclear summit with Kim last week that the North Korean leader didn't know about the student's condition until later.Pompeo was asked by Atlanta-based Gray Television Saturday whether he, too, takes the North Korean leader at his word."We take very seriously the North Korean human rights violations, and we know exactly who's responsible for the death of Otto Warmbier," he said, according to a transcript released by the State Department Tuesday. "The North Korean regime is responsible for the death of Otto Warmbier."Pressed on Kim's role, he answered, "The North Korean regime is responsible for the death of Otto Warmbier, end of story."He defended the Trump administration's diplomatic engagement with the North as an effort to prevent similar tragedi

Mar 6, 2019
Pompeo: 'North Korea, not Kim Jong-un, responsible for Warmbier's death'
  • 'Spy chief may visit North Korea soon to revive nuke talks'

Moon confident that North Korea will be denuclearized

President Moon Jae-in speaks during the graducation ceremony of the Korean Naval Academy in Jinhae, Tuesday. YonhapPresident Moon Jae-in reiterated his confidence in diplomatic efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula Tuesday despite the fruitless summit between North Korea and the United States last week."Should we consistently pursue peace with firm determination, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and permanent peace will definitely come," the president said in the commission ceremony of the Korean Naval Academy in Jinhae, about 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul.U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended their second summit without an agreement in Hanoi last Thursday. Seoul had been highly hopeful that the summit would further advance the North's denuclearization process. Trump and Kim first met in Singapore in June.On Monday, Moon also insisted the U.S. and North Korea will eventually reach an agreement, while chairing a National Security Council meeting for the first time in nearly nine months to seek ways to help bridge the gap between the t

Mar 5, 2019
Moon confident that North Korea will be denuclearized

North Korea refrains from criticism of US despite breakdown of Trump summit

The front page of the Rodong Sinmun on March 5 / YonhapNorth Korean state media outlets have been refraining from criticism of the United States despite the no-deal breakdown of last week's second summit between leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.The restraint appears to reflect soul-searching by Pyongyang over whether and how to proceed with the nuclear negotiations with Washington after the embarrassing and unexpected collapse of the talks with Trump in Hanoi.On Tuesday, Uriminzokkiri, one of the North's propaganda websites, called for escalating the "peace atmosphere" on the Korean Peninsula, saying Pyongyang remains firm in its commitment to ending hostile military relations with the South."Joint military exercises with foreign forces, which serve as a root cause of tensions in the Korean Peninsula situation, should no longer be allowed, and the introduction of war equipment, including strategic assets, should be completely halted," it said.Last week's talks had been widely expected to produce another denuclearization-for-concession deal after the one reached at t

Mar 5, 2019
North Korea refrains from criticism of US despite breakdown of Trump summit
  • North Korean leader arrives home after summit

North Korean leader arrives home after summit

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrives home after wrapping up his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, in Pyongyang, March 4. YonhapNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un is welcomed by officials after arriving in Pyongyang, March 4. YonhapNorth Korea's Kim Jong-un arrived home on Tuesday, state media said, completing his marathon journey through China after his Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump ended without a nuclear deal. Kim's return to Pyongyang marked the end of an epic 4,000-kilometre (2,500-mile) journey ― on board his olive green armoured train ― from Vietnam, where his much-hyped second summit with Trump came to an abrupt halt last week. His talks with the US leader were followed by an official visit to Vietnam, with Kim paying tribute to the country's late revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh."Kim Jong Un... arrived at home on Tuesday after successfully wrapping up his official goodwill visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam," according to the official KCNA news agency."At 3 o'clock in the early morning, his train entered the railway station yard

Mar 5, 2019
North Korean leader arrives home after summit
  • North Korea refrains from criticism of US despite breakdown of Trump summit

Kim Jong-un heading to Pyongyang without stopping in Beijing

Authorities stand guard next to the train of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as the leader prepares to make the two-day journey back to North Korea, at the Dong Dang railway station in Dong Dang, Vietnam, 02 March 2019. EPANorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un's special train passed the northeastern Chinese port city of Tianjin on Monday, sources said, apparently heading directly back to Pyongyang after a trip to Hanoi for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.Kim left Dong Dang station in Vietnam on Saturday after a two-day summit with Trump and an official visit to the Southeast Asian nation.His train passed through Tianjin around 7 a.m., according to the sources, apparently taking the same route as when he traveled nearly 66 hours by train to Vietnam. "Security was tightened in downtown Tianjin early in the morning and then eased. It seems like Chairman Kim's train has passed through the city," a source said.Despite earlier speculation, Kim did not stop in Guangzhou, a Chinese port city northwest of Hong Kong, nor in Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping on his way back home.His trai

Mar 4, 2019
Kim Jong-un heading to Pyongyang without stopping in Beijing
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