Koreas to resume military dialogue June 14 By Yi Whan-wooThe two Koreas agreed to resume high-level military talks on June 14 to discuss measures to ease border tensions and vitalize exchanges in all sectors during their high-level talks at the truce village of Panmunjeom, Friday.They also agreed to set up a liaison office inside the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) in North Korea “at an early date.”These agreements are in line with the landmark Panmunjeom Declaration agreement signed by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their April 27 summit, also held at Panmunjeom, South Korean officials said.The South will send a team of officials to the GIC on June 15 to discuss opening the liaison office, which is expected to play a central role in future inter-Korean exchanges.The industrial complex has been closed since February 2016 as part of the international community's economic sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program.Seoul denied media reports that the opening of the liaison office will be a preparatory step toward resuming operation of the GIC. Among other cross-border aJun 1, 2018
N. Korea leader may take cue from China, Russia North Korean leader Kim Jong-un listens during a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday. / Tass-YonhapBy Park Ji-wonNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un is expanding diplomacy with China and Russia before his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump on June 12. Kim has met _ or plans to meet _ leaders and high-level officials of China and Russia.Kim met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Pyongyang Thursday and agreed to hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Friday.“The two countries (North Korea and Russia) agreed to hold a summit as well as boost high-level dialogue, exchanges and cooperation in various fields this year, which marks the 70th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations,” it said.The KCNA emphasized denuclearization in the reports, saying Kim told Lavrov the North's will to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula is unchanged, consistent and fixed. Russia's envoy also delivered Putin's letter to Kim, it said.Critics say the North's engaJun 1, 2018
Beware: US-North Korea summit malware is spreading This photo provided by Cisco Systems on June 1, 2018, shows the captured image of an attached file containing a malware virus that posed as a file about a summit meeting between North Korea and the United States./ YonhapEmails with an attachment containing a malware virus have spread across South Korea by using the summit meeting between North Korea and the United States as a form of bait, U.S. networking company Cisco Systems said Friday.The emails with an attached Hangul Word Processor (HWP) document, with the title translated in English as "prospect and preparations for U.S.-N.Korea summit," were sent to Naver Mail accounts, the email service of Naver Corp., South Korea's top Internet portal operator, the company said.If a malicious document is opened, a remote access Trojan called "NavRAT" is downloaded, which can perform various actions on the victim's computer, including command executions. The malware also has keylogging capabilities that can pose serious security problems, a source said. In South Korea, the HWP file format can be used to embed Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) wiJun 1, 2018
North Korea suggests joint celebration of first inter-Korean summit in the South South Korean Unification Minister and chief delegate Cho Myoung-gyon (R) shakes hands with North Korea's chief delegate and Committee for Peaceful Reunificatio chairman Ri Son-gwon (L) prior their high-level talks at the Peace House on the southern side of Panmunjom, on the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), 01 June 2018. The meeting is a follow-up to the 27 April summit between the two Koreas. / EPANorth Korea suggested during high-level talks on Friday that the two Koreas hold a joint celebration of the anniversary of a historic 2000 inter-Korean summit this month in the South, an official in Seoul said.The meeting in the border village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea is the latest in a flurry of diplomatic activity intended to salvage a thaw in relations with the isolated North. North Korea had called off a planned meeting with the South last month in protest against U.S.-South Korean air combat drills before South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un revived it during a surprise second summit on Saturday.The meJun 1, 2018
Two Koreas begin high-level talks at DMZ Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, center, speaks to reporters before departing for DMZ to attend a high-level meeting with North Korea. / Yonhap The delegations of two Koreas sit down together for a high-level meeting at Panmunjeom, Friday. / Joint Press CorpsSouth Korea and North Korea began high-level talks Friday to discuss steps to implement the agreement reached by their leaders in their April and May summits.The high-level talks started at 10 a.m. at the truce village of Panmunjom in the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone that divides the Koreas, according to the unification ministry.Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon leads South Korea's five-member delegation, including Vice Transport Minister Kim Jeong-ryeol and Vice Culture Minster Roh Tae-kang.The North's five-member team is headed by Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country. It also includes Vice Railroad Minister Kim Yun-hyok and Vice Sports Minister Won Kil-u.The meeting is mainly intended to discuss follow-up measures to the agreements that South Korean President Jun 1, 2018
Kim Jong-un says 'will for denuclearization remains consistent and fixed' North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un during a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. / TASSNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov he was committed to denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the official KCNA news agency reported Friday."Kim Jong-un said that the DPRK's will for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula still remains unchanged and consistent and fixed," KCNA reported after their meeting in Pyongyang on Thursday.Kim hoped US-North Korean relations and denuclearization of the peninsula "will be solved on a stage-by-stage basis" and "he hoped that the solution of the issues will progress through effective and constructive dialogue and negotiation," the report by the North Korean news agency said.North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, left, and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shake hands during a meeting. / TASSLavrov's visit came as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a top North Korean official held talks on planning a historic summit between Kim and President Donald Trump in Singapore.The key task ahJun 1, 2018
North Korean delegation to meet Trump with Kim Jong-un's letter U.S. President Donald Trump pumps his fist to the crowd as he arrives at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston, Texas on May 31, 2018. / AFPU.S. President Donald Trump said a North Korean delegation in New York is expected to bring him a letter from leader Kim Jong-un on Friday.Trump told reporters Thursday before leaving for Texas that meetings to prepare for his potential summit with Kim have been "very positive." The two sides are pushing for a June 12 summit in Singapore to discuss dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program."I believe they'll be coming down to Washington on Friday and a letter is going to be delivered to me from Kim Jong-un," he said. "So I look forward to seeing what's in the letter, but it's very important to them."Trump canceled the meeting in an open letter to Kim last week, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" from the regime. Soon after he put it back on track.Asked what he thinks the letter will say, Trump said he doesn't know, but "I think it will be very positive."Kim Yong-chol, a senior North Korean official known as a close aide Jun 1, 2018
North Korea should take bold step or things may get tragic: Pompeo The United States and North Korea have made "real progress" toward a fruitful summit between their leaders on dismantling the North's nuclear weapons program, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday.Pompeo held two days of meetings with a senior North Korean official in New York as both sides push to salvage a June 12 summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un."Through these series of meetings, I'm confident we're moving in the right direction," he said at a news conference, also mentioning parallel talks in Korea and Singapore. But the top U.S. diplomat was unable to say if it will be known by Friday whether the summit will happen. Trump called it off last week, citing "open hostility" from the regime, and then put it back on track."We've made real progress in the last 72 hours toward setting the conditions," the secretary of state said. "The conditions are putting President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un in a place where we think there could be real progress made by the two of them meeting."Trump said hours earlier that he Jun 1, 2018
Moscow invites Kim Jong-un to visit North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shakes hands with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Pyongyang, Thursday. / AFPRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Pyongyang on Thursday invited North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to visit Russia, Moscow said, during the first meeting between the head of the reclusive state and a Russian official."Come to Russia, we'll be very happy to see you," Lavrov told Kim in remarks released by the Russian foreign ministry.Lavrov passed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Kim, saying he wished him success in the "major undertakings that have been initiated on the Korean peninsula", the ministry said in a statement.Lavrov was the first Russian official to be received by Kim, Russian news agencies said. "It was the first official meeting with him face to face," TASS quoted a source in the minister's delegation as saying.The Russian foreign ministry also released pictures of the two men shaking hands and smiling.Russia's top diplomat arrived in Pyongyang earlier Thursday, ahead of a landmark summit between Kim and US President Donald TMay 31, 2018
Two Koreas may hold joint event to mark June 15 Declaration By Park Ji-wonThe two Koreas may hold a joint event to commemorate the June 15 joint declaration between the two made in 2000 by the heads of both governments. Participation of the leaders and their unification chiefs is likely dependant on the outcome of the Kim-Trump summit on June 12.According to media reports, the South Korean government is planning to suggest to the North during a high-level meeting on June 1 that the two Koreas’ unification chiefs, the South’s Cho Myoung-gyon and North’s Ri Sun-kwon, participate in the joint event on June 15. The two are planning to attend the high-level meeting.“The South Korean government will actively engage in the June 15 joint event as it was written in the Panmunjeom Declaration and plans to finalize the list of members who would join the event through high-ranking talks between the two Koreas which are slated for June 1,” unification ministry officials said.KTV quoted Oh Kyung-sub, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, as saying, “There will be no reason for the North to refuse May 31, 2018
