Pompeo to travel to Vietnam for summit Feb. 26-28 U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, meets with Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, Friday, Feb. 22, 2019, at the State Department in Washington. AP U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Vietnam next week for the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the State Department said Friday (local time). Pompeo is scheduled to be in Hanoi from Feb. 26 to 28 to participate in the summit and meetings with Vietnamese leaders, the department said in a statement.The summit is scheduled for Feb. 27 and 28.Pompeo will also visit Manila, the Philippines, from Feb. 28 to March 1 to meet with President Rodrigo Duterte and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin, Jr. (Yonhap)Feb 23, 2019
North Korea promotes March 10 election of top assembly members Posters for the election of deputies to the 14th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA). The phrase on the poster at left reads: “Let us further glorify socialism of our style on the strength of single-minded unity!" KCNA-YonhapBy Jung Da-minNorth Korea's ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) has released posters promoting the election of deputies to the 14th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) scheduled for March 10, the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday.The KCNA on Jan. 9 reported the ruling party's decision to call the election according to the county's socialist Constitution.This is the second parliamentary election since Kim Jong-un took power in 2012. It comes five years after the 13th SPA was formed on Mar. 9, 2014.The KCNA said 99.97 percent of all eligible voters went to the polls then, except those on foreign tours or working at sea. A total of 687 deputies are elected, one from each constituency. It said the country's leader Kim Jong-un received 100 percent support in 2014.The SPA is the highest sovereign authority in North Korea that has tFeb 22, 2019
UN says North Korea has asked for help on food shortages The United Nations says North Korea's government has asked for help from international humanitarian groups to combat food shortages.U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday that food production figures provided by North Korea show ``there is a food gap of about 1.4 million tons expected for 2019, and that's crops including rice, wheat, potato and soybeans.''Dujarric says the U.N. has ``expressed and will continue to express our concern about the deteriorating food security situation'' in North Korea.He says the U.N. ``at various levels'' is consulting with the North Korean government ``to further understand the impact of food security on the most vulnerable people, in order to take early action to address the humanitarian needs.'' (AP) Feb 22, 2019
Is Kim Jong-un traveling to Vietnam by train? A Chinese hotel near the border with North Korea stopped receiving reservations for this weekend, a source said Friday, in a sign that the North's leader Kim Jong-un could travel to Vietnam by train for his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump."The Zhonglian hotel abruptly decided on Thursday afternoon to stop receiving reservations for Saturday and Sunday," a source said. "It is not receiving foreigners starting Friday and began to cancel bookings. This could be related to Chairman Kim's trip."The hotel in the Chinese border city of Dandong is located near the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge that links the two countries.The move came amid speculation over whether the North Korean leader will fly or travel by train all the way to the Southeast Asian nation for the upcoming summit in Hanoi set for Feb. 27-28. The hotel has not received bookings in the past when the North's leader has traveled to China by train.The hotel's decision suggests that Kim's train could cross into China on Saturday evening and arrive in Beijing on Sunday, where he could meet with Chinese President Xi Feb 22, 2019
Inter-Korean joint celebration for independence uprising cancelled This file photo shows South Korean people singing in a chorus at a celebratory event held in front of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Korea Times file North Korea on Thursday turned down South Korea's offer to hold joint events celebrating the upcoming centennial of the March 1 Independence Movement against Japan's colonial rule, the unification ministry said."We have been in consultations to make the event take place as best we could, but the North officially notified us today that it would be difficult to jointly celebrate the March 1 Independence Movement," the ministry said.The North explained that circumstances do not allow it to arrange such an event with South Korea but did not specify the reasons, the ministry said.South Korea earlier proposed jointly celebrating the anniversary of the March 1, 1919 Independence Movement against Japan, which ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1910-1945. The North had not responded to the offer for weeFeb 21, 2019
Missing NK diplomat's daughter returned to Pyongyang An entrance to the North Korean Embassy in Rome, Italy, Jan. 3. / Reuters-YonhapBy Park Ji-wonThe daughter of a missing North Korean diplomat who worked in Rome returned to Pyongyang in the middle of November, the Italian foreign ministry announced Wednesday. The foreign ministry received two notices regarding the charge d'affaires in Rome.“The first ― dated Nov. 20, 2018 ― (North Korea) informed that the position of charge d'affaires in Rome would be assumed by Mr. Kim Chon. The second ― dated Dec. 5, 2018 ― informed that former Charge d'Affaires Jo Song-gil and his wife had left the embassy on Nov. 10 and that their daughter, having expressed the wish to return to her country to stay with her grandparents, had returned there on Nov. 14, accompanied by some of the female staff of the embassy,” Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said on its website.Based on the statement, whether Jo's daughter was forcefully sent back to Pyongyang remains unknown. North Korean envoy to Rome Jo Song-gil and his wife went missing in November, and a South KoreaFeb 21, 2019By Park Ji-won
Trump signals more meetings after Hanoi By Lee Min-hyungU.S. President Donald TrumpU.S. President Donald Trump has urged North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to take “meaningful” steps for denuclearization to earn a lifting of sanctions on his regime, a few days before their second summit in Vietnam.“The sanctions are on in full,” Trump told reporters at the White House, Wednesday (local time). “I have not taken sanctions off. I would love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something that is meaningful on the other side.”The U.S. leader implied that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be a long process, saying he hopes to hold more summits with Kim down the road.“I don't think this will be the last meeting by any chance,” Trump said.Starting this week, Trump is making remarks on the upcoming summit with Kim on a daily basis, even if his comments do not come with any details on what will be discussed during the much-anticipated meeting. On Tuesday, the U.S. president said he would take enough time in the ongoing dialogue with the North and that he remaiFeb 21, 2019By Lee Min-hyung
UN gives green light for North Koreans to travel to Vietnam The portraits of U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un by Vietnamese artist Tran Lam Binh, center, are displayed at a cafe in Hanoi on Wednesday, a week ahead of the second Trump and Kim summit. AFP-YonhapThe Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea has given a green light to Kim Jong Un's delegation to travel to Vietnam next week for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, U.N. diplomats said Wednesday (local time). The Vietnamese government requested an exemption from sanctions for the entire delegation to travel to Hanoi and there was no objection by any of the 15 council nations, the council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because consultations were private. The exemption covers anyone in the delegation who is on the U.N. sanctions blacklist and therefore is banned from traveling and subject to an asset freeze. It will also allow all delegation members to take home luxury goods whose import to North Korea is banned by the council. The sanctions committee granted the sameFeb 21, 2019
Bolton to travel to South Korea before Hanoi summit: CNN U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks to the media ― before the arrival of President Donald Trump ― during a rally at Florida International University in Miami on Feb. 18. Bolton is scheduled to travel to South Korea later this week, according to CNN. AFP-Yonhap U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton will travel to South Korea this week for talks before next week's summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, CNN reported Wednesday (local time).Bolton is slated to be in South Korea later this week for discussions about the summit between Trump and Kim set for Feb. 27-28 in Vietnam's capital Hanoi, the broadcaster quoted two U.S. government officials as saying.The two sides have been seeking to flesh out an agreement reached at last June's first summit in Singapore to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program in exchange for U.S. security guarantees.Bolton has long been known as a hardliner on North Korea. (YonFeb 21, 2019
North Korea must take 'meaningful' steps to win sanctions relief: Trump U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Wednesday (local time). Trump said North Korea's leader must make a "meaningful" gesture for the U.S. to lift sanctions on Pyongyang. Reuters-Yonhap U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday (local time) that North Korea must take "meaningful" steps toward denuclearization to win sanctions relief from the United States.Trump plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27 and 28 to flesh out an agreement they reached at last June's first summit in Singapore to dismantle the North's nuclear weapons program."We'll be meeting with Chairman Kim for two days and I think we'll accomplish a lot," Trump told reporters at a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at the White House. "I don't think this will be the last meeting by any chance." Washington has sought to persuade Pyongyang to dismFeb 21, 2019
