What should be Trump's new little gift to Kim Jong-un? U.S. President Donald Trump and Melania Trump arrive on Air Force One at Melsbroek Air Base in Brussels, Belgium, Tuesday. AP-YonhapBy Oh Young-jin So Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo did try to give a copy of a CD containing Elton John's “Rocket Man” to Kim Jong-un, North Korea's leader. The U.S. President has admitted that his secretary of state had it on his orders during his Pyongyang visit but Pompeo didn't have a chance to give it to Kim because the North Korean refused to meet him."They didn't give it, I have it for him, they didn't give it, but it will be given at a certain time," Trump told reporters at the White House.His admission about the gift has settled much of the brouhaha after the Chosun Ilbo report of it before Pompeo's visit.But some loose ends remain.First, a CD, whatever its contents, will most likely be no good gift for Kim. Contraband CDs containing K-pop and other features of South Korea's upscale life have long been smuggled into the North, helping North Koreans know about life outside the pariah state and get disillusioned about the miserable life tJul 12, 2018
Commentator recalls inter-Korean basketball games Basketball commentator Park Jong-min makes commentary during an inter-Korean friendly game at Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium in Pyongyang, July 4. / Pyongyang Joint Press CorpsBy Kim Rahn, Pyongyang Joint Press CorpsIn last week's inter-Korean friendly basketball games, 101 people visited Pyongyang from the South, including players and coaches as well as government officials. Also included was Park Jong-min, a commentator who has 19 years of experience with pro basketball games here.Park, 40, who started his career in 1999, has been making commentary for SK Knights at the team's stadium since 2001. He did not expect to go to Pyongyang until a day before the South Korean sports delegation's July 3 departure for the games that were held from July 4 to 5. He received a call from a Korea Basketball Association official at around 7 p.m. on July 2 and was told to go to Pyongyang the next day. His visit was approved about three hours later.“I was told that North Korea faxed the South at 6 p.m. on July 2 that a commentator would be needed. Then the association called me,” he saJul 11, 2018
Gov't: 'North Korean restaurant workers defected voluntarily' South Korea reiterated Wednesday that there was no coercion in the process of the defection of North Korean female restaurant workers in 2016.On Tuesday, Tomas Ojea Quintana, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, called for an investigation into allegations that some of them unknowingly came here."I understand that the workers came to the South of their own free will," Baik Tae-hyun, unification ministry spokesman, told reporters during a regular press briefing. "I have nothing more to say about that."The spokesman declined to elaborate, saying that there is a limit in sharing relevant information as those women remain reluctant to have details disclosed due to concerns that the safety of their families in the North could be jeopardized.In April 2016, 12 North Korean women working at a restaurant in China defected to the South. Seoul has claimed that all of them came here voluntarily but Pyongyang has demanded their return, saying they were abducted by South Korean intelligence.Controversy flared up anew in May when a local cable broadcaster aired an interview wJul 11, 2018
South Korea gears up for forestry cooperation with North Korea Forest For Peace, a Seoul-based civic group, is brimming with hopes for the revival of its suspended project to set up a tree nursery at Mount Kumgang on North Korea's east coast.The Seoul government has picked forestry cooperation as one of its priority projects in implementing the April 27 summit agreement between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.In 2007, the group established a sapling nursery on the North's scenic mountain, the venue of a now-suspended inter-Korean tour project, and planted chestnut trees there the following year. But the project has been suspended for a decade amid chilly inter-Korean ties."We are seeking to re-push for the forestry project at Mt. Kumgang. We are also mulling ways to help the North modernize its tree nurseries in the long term," said Lee Jung-min, secretary-general of the group."We have high anticipation for the revival of forestry cooperation with the North. But as the government has yet to unveil a detailed action plan, civic groups are studying what they could do," he added.Forest For Peace and other non-governmental Jul 11, 2018
Trump's joke on Kim Jong-un or the other way around? North Korean military salute the motorcade carrying U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as it makes its way to the Park Hwa Guest House in Pyongyang on July 6. APBy Oh Young-jin So a CD of "Rocket Man" by Elton John was not delivered to Kim Jong-un. Or was it? Or did it mean U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo carried the gift but failed to give it to the North Korean leader in Pyongyang?The U.S. State Department confirmed that the CD was not given to Kim, but Trump's personal letter was. But according to the Washington Post, the department did not say whether or not Pompeo brought the gift to Pyongyang in the first place. It is still possible that Pompeo had it with him, but did not give it to Kim because he did not get a chance to meet the North Korean leader. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pauses while speaking to the media in Pyongyang following two days of meetings with Kim Yong-chol, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief. APAfter all, Pompeo was given the cold shoulder by his host, who called the visit "regretful" right after Pompeo's deJul 9, 2018
US, North Korea continue tug-of-war over denuclearization Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, right, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono hold hands as they meet a the Ikura Guest House in Tokyo, Sunday. / Yonhap'US failed to propose what N. Korea wanted for regime safety'By Yi Whan-wooNorth Korea and the United States apparently failed to narrow their differences over the methods for the North's denuclearization, during U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's two-day visit to Pyongyang last week.The two sides still want to keep their negotiations active and agreed on creating a working group to discuss the details.Pompeo's visit was a follow-up to a “comprehensive” agreement reached between leaders of the two countries in Singapore, June 12.U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed on “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” but without specifying details.Pompeo said his talks with Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of North Korea's Workers' Party, had been held in “good faith” and that “progress” had been made on cenJul 8, 2018
Pompeo: Sanctions to remain until North Korea 'final' denuclearization US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono and South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha attend a press conference at Iikura Guest House in Tokyo on July 8, 2018. AFPSanctions on North Korea will remain in place until Pyongyang carries out "final" denuclearization, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday. "Sanctions will remain in place until final, fully verified denuclearization as agreed to by Chairman Kim (Jong Un) occurs," Pompeo said, speaking in Tokyo after talks with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts."While we are encouraged by the progress of these talks, progress alone does not justify the relaxation of the existing sanctions regime."Pompeo held more than eight hours of talks with North Korean officials in Pyongyang from Friday, seeking to flesh out a bare bones deal made by US President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim last month.He characterized the discussions as positive, but hours after he left Pyongyang, North Korea issued an angry statement rejecting what it described as Washington's "gangster-like" demand for rapid nucJul 8, 2018
After talks, North Korea accuses US of 'gangster-like' demands U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, return to discussions after a break at Park Hwa Guest House in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 7, 2018. REUTERSNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un has delivered a dose of harsh reality to Donald Trump, bashing hopes for a quick denuclearization deal in a pointed rebuke to the president's top envoy while accusing the U.S. of making ``gangster-like'' demands.After the historic U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore, Trump declared the North was no longer a threat and would hand over the remains of Americans killed during the Korean War. Now, three weeks later, the two sides were still at odds on all issues, including exactly what denuclearization means and how it might be verified, after a third visit to Pyongyang by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. And, the promised remains have yet to be delivered.Pompeo wrapped up two days of talks in the North Korean capital on Saturday on an optimistic note even without meeting Kim Jong Un, as he had on his previous two tripJul 8, 2018
North Korea says US attitude in denuclearization talks 'extremely regrettable' North Korea expressed regret Saturday over the attitude of U.S. negotiators during their talks this week to work out details on how to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula as agreed to by their leaders in their recent summit meeting.In a statement issued by an unnamed foreign ministry spokesman and carried by the Korean Central News Agency, the North lashed out at the United States for seeking unilateral and forced denuclearization from Pyongyang.The statement came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrapped up his two-day trip to Pyongyang aimed at hashing out measures to implement the June 12 summit agreement in Singapore, at which their leaders agreed to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."We expected that the U.S. side would come with productive measures conducive to building trust in line with the spirit of the North-U.S. summit and (we) considered providing something that would correspond to them," the spokesman said."The U.S. just came out with such unilateral and robber-like denuclearization demands as CVID, declaration and verification thaJul 7, 2018
Pompeo leaves Pyongyang after denuclearization talks with N. Korea U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left Pyongyang for Tokyo on Saturday after completing his two-day trip in North Korea for denuclearization talks.Pompeo met with Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, for the second straight day in the North Korean capital, with both apparently finding out that they have things to "clarify," according to pool reports. Pompeo left Pyongyang Saturday afternoon to brief his South Korean and Japanese counterparts -- Kang Kyung-wha and Taro Kono -- on the outcome of his meetings in North Korea.However, it wasn't confirmed whether Pompeo met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before he took the flight to Tokyo.Pompeo and Kim Yong-chol met with each other for nearly three hours Friday apparently on details of what the two countries should do in order to implement the Singapore summit deal last month.Kim told the secretary, "We did have very serious discussion on very important matters yesterday. So, thinking about those discussions you might have not slept well last night," according to news reports based Jul 7, 2018
