'Historic turning point': North Korean media pin hopes on Trump-Kim summit North Korea is facing a "historic turning point," the country's main newspaper said Monday, in an apparent reference to next week's summit between leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.The Rodong Sinmun made the comment as it called for greater economic development efforts."Our country is facing a historic turning point," the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North's ruling party, said in a commentary. "It is time for us to tighten our shoe strings and run fast, looking for a higher target as we are facing a decisive moment."Kim and Trump are set to hold their second summit in Vietnam's Hanoi on Feb. 27-28. The talks are expected to focus on trading denuclearization measures from the North for corresponding economic and other concessions from the U.S.Calling for economic development efforts, the North's paper emphasized that lessons should be learned from a success story from an island, called "edo" off the country's west coast where "stunning achievements" have been made.The "miraculous" successes, such as constructing ships equipped with state-of-the-art technology, a seFeb 18, 2019
Will Kim Jong-un inspect Samsung factory in Vietnam? Kim Chang-son, known as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's de facto chief of staff, sitting in a car after inspecting Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi Hotel, Saturday. YonhapA senior North Korean official is believed to have looked around areas near a smartphone factory in Vietnam owned by South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co., sources said Sunday.Kim Chang-son, known as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's de facto chief of staff, and other officials arrived in Hanoi Saturday to check logistics for a second summit between the United States and North Korea slated for Feb. 27-28.The Kim delegation left the Vietnamese government's guest house in Hanoi at around 7 a.m. and headed north to the Bac Ninh province where a smartphone-producing line by Samsung Electronics is located, according to sources.The group is believed to have driven around the areas surrounding the factory and assessed the routes to and from Hanoi. It also visited Thai Nguyen province in the northeast region where another Samsung smartphone factory is located.His trip is spawning speculation that Kim Jong-un may sFeb 17, 2019
Vietnam launches round-the-clock police surveillance ahead of Trump-Kim summit North Korean and US officials landed in Hanoi on Saturday as all three countries prepare for the upcoming summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, Vietnamese state media reported.The two delegations are expected to organize logistical coordination for the summit, the VnExpress news site reported.Hanoi police also said they would dispatch 96 patrol groups to crack down on crime in the 10 days preceding the summit. City landmarks will also be put on round-the-clock police surveillance.Security for the summit is expected to be tight. While the risk of terrorism is considered extremely low in Vietnam, the capital's density makes the city harder for bodyguards on both the Korean and US teams to secure their bosses.Trump and Kim previously met in Singapore in June 2018 following a heated exchange of words, with both threatening war between their nuclear armed states.Even though Trump has portrayed the first meeting as resolving conflict over the North Korean nuclear program, Pyongyang has done little to denuclearize the peninsula and US intelligence officials say the country is unlikelFeb 17, 2019
North Koreans pay tribute to Kim's father in freezing cold People leave after paying their respects before the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il as part of celebrations marking the anniversary of the birth of Kim Jong-il, known as the "Day of the Shining Star," on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang on Feb. 16. AFPThe Day of the Shining Star dawned bitterly cold in Pyongyang; but thousands of North Koreans lined up in temperatures of minus 8 degrees Celsius, Saturday, to pay their respects to the late leader Kim Jong-il on the anniversary of his birthday.Kim, the son of the isolated North's founder Kim Il-sung and the father of current leader Kim Jong-un, was born Feb. 16.According to Pyongyang's orthodoxy, he came into the world in 1942, in a snow-covered hut at a secret camp on the slopes of Mount Paektu, the spiritual birthplace of the Korean people, where his father was fighting occupying Japanese forces.Outside historians point instead to official Soviet records, which say he was born a year earlier in a Siberian village where Kim Il-sung was living in exile.Either way, it is a key anniversary in a nuclear-armed natioFeb 16, 2019
Koreas to field joint teams in 4 sports at 2020 Tokyo Olympics Women's basketball players from South Korea and North Korea enter the court at Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium in Pyongyang for a friendly basketball match on July 4, 2018. YonhapSouth and North Korea will organize unified teams in four sports at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, officials announced Friday.After a meeting with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, Friday, representatives from the Koreas agreed to form joint teams in women's basketball and field hockey, and rowing and judo for the Tokyo Olympics.Tokyo 2020 will be the first Summer Olympics in which the Koreas will have unified teams, should they qualify for the competition. At last year's PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea, the two had a joint team in women's ice hockey.Also in 2018, the Koreas competed as one in women's basketball, rowing and canoeing at the Asian Games in Indonesia. They combined for one gold and two bronze medals in dragon boat, which is a canoeing discipline, and for silver in the women's basketball.“The discussionFeb 16, 2019
Trump says Japan's PM nominated him for Nobel Peace Prize U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe / ReutersPresident Donald Trump claimed Friday that Japan's prime minister had nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize for opening a dialogue with North Korea. Trump also complained about President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize and doubted he would be similarly honored. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe “gave me the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize,” Trump said at a White House news conference when asked about his late February summit in Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. “He said, 'I have nominated you, respectfully, on behalf of Japan. I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize.'” The Associated Press could not immediately confirm Trump's claim. The Japanese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who also has credited Trump with starting negotiations with the reclusive North, has endorsed the U.S. leader for the Nobel Peace Prize as well. Trump said eFeb 16, 2019
Trump says he just doesn't want NK to test nukes, missiles U.S. President Donald Trump / APU.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he is in no rush to denuclearize North Korea but wants the regime to refrain from testing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.Trump is scheduled to hold a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam from Feb. 27 to 28 to discuss the dismantling of the regime's nuclear weapons program in exchange for U.S. security guarantees.Speaking at the White House, the president said he is hopeful the next summit will be "very much equally as successful" as the first in Singapore in June, after which North Korea stopped testing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons as well as returning the remains of American soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War."I hope we have the same good luck as we had in the first summit," Trump said. "I'm in no rush for speed. We just don't want testing."The first summit produced a commitment to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, build new relations between the countries and establish lasting peace on the peninsula.But progress has appearedFeb 16, 2019
US stresses verification ahead of summit U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday. YonhapBy Kim Bo-eunThe U.S. is pressuring North Korea over verification steps for its denuclearization measures ahead of a second summit between leaders. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo emphasized “Chairman Kim Jong-un vowed to work toward complete denuclearization,” and stressed the role of verification in the process, in an interview with CBS in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday.“We're going to have to see that he does this,” he said. “We're going to have to be able to verify that he does it.”“Verification is what the U.S. regards as most important in North Korea's denuclearization process,” Handong Global University professor Park Won-gon said.Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University, agreed. On whether North Korea would be willing to do this, he said “North Korea needs the incentives the U.S. is set to provide, so it will likely agree to verification.”On the extent of verification the two countries aFeb 15, 2019By Kim Bo-eun
Two France-based organizations receive sanctions waiver for NK aid projects A Korean People's Army soldier stands at the entrance to a “Kimjongilia” flower exhibition celebrating late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang on Feb. 14. AFPTwo France-based international assistance organizations have received sanctions exemptions from the United Nations for items they will send to North Korea, a U.N. website showed Friday.Premiere Urgence Internationale (PUI) and Handicap International were granted the sanctions waivers on Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, respectively, for six months, according to the website.Handicap International secured a sanctions waiver for its projects on "inclusion and social protection of people with vulnerabilities" and "achieving inclusion into communities for people with disabilities through improved access to services."It plans to ship a total of 73 items, including wheelchairs, auxiliary crutches, toilet chairs and walking frames estimated to be worth around 233,363 euros (US$263,000), the website showed.PUI was exempted from global sanctions for its projects "on improving children's nutritional status and households' resilieFeb 15, 2019
Pompeo says he expects Trump, Kim to discuss end-of-war declaration U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a news conference at Lazienki Palace in Warsaw, Feb. 12. ReutersU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that he expects President Donald Trump to discuss the possibility of formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War at his next summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.Trump and Kim are scheduled to meet in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 27-28 to discuss the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear weapons program in exchange for U.S. security guarantees.An end-of-war declaration is a key concession North Korea has demanded in return for the denuclearization it committed to at the first Trump-Kim summit in Singapore in June."It's something we've had a lot of talks about," the top U.S. diplomat said in an interview with Fox News held in Warsaw, Poland. "In fact, my team will redeploy to Asia here in a day or two to continue conversations around all elements that were discussed back in Singapore. Remember we not only discussed denuclearization, but we talked about creating security mechanisms, peace mechanisms on the Korean Peninsula. I hope the Feb 15, 2019
