Why Kim Jong-un shakes up top military brass ahead of Trump meeting? North Korea's top three military officials have been removed from their posts, a senior U.S. official said, a move analysts said on Monday could support efforts by the North's young leader to jump-start economic development and engage with the world.Kim Jong-un is preparing for a high-stakes summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12, the first such meeting between a North Korean leader and a sitting U.S. president. The U.S. official, who spoke on Sunday on condition of anonymity, was commenting on a report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency that all three of the North's top military officials were believed to have been replaced.Kim's motivation remains unclear but analysts said the shake-up allows him and the ruling party to tighten control over the Korean People's Army (KPA) at a critical time of international engagement and domestic development."If Kim Jong-un is set on making peace with the U.S. and South Korea and dealing away at least part of the nuclear program, he will have to put the KPA’s influence in a box and keep it there," said Ken Gause, dirJun 4, 2018
Singapore may pay accommodation for Kim Jong-un's visit for summit By Lee Min-hyungThe Singaporean government is likely to pay accommodation costs for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's much-anticipated visit to the city-state next week for a summit with United States President Donald Trump. The Fullerton Hotel, where a North Korean advance team has been staying, may be where Kim will stay. A presidential suite room at the five-star luxury hotel costs more than $6,000 (6.43 million won) a day.The summit is slated for June 12, but Trump indicated the meeting could be extended, so the leaders may stay in Singapore for a couple of days more.Following the reports, attention is running as to whether the North can cover the cost of accommodation, as the sanctions-hit regime is allegedly running out of hard currency.The Singaporean government has expressed its willingness to cover the cost for Kim and his delegation's visit to the country if it can help the historic summit produce a good outcome. “It is a cost that we are willing to bear to play a small part in this historic meeting,” Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen told reporters SaturdJun 4, 2018
VIDEO Syria's Assad to meet Kim Jong-un: KCNA People walk near a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hanging in a street in the Syrian capital Damascus on May 31. / AFP-YonhapSyrian President Bashar al-Assad said he plans to visit North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, Pyongyang's state media reported Sunday, potentially becoming the first head of state to meet Kim inside the isolated country. I am going to visit the DPRK and meet... Kim Jong-un," Assad said, the North's state-run KCNA news agency reported, using the abbreviated version of the country's official name. The announcement came as anticipation mounts for a historic nuclear summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12, following a whirlwind round of diplomacy. "The world welcomes the remarkable events in the Korean peninsula brought about recently by the outstanding political calibre and wise leadership of...Kim Jong-un," KCNA cited Assad as saying during a meeting with North Korean Ambassador Mun Jong-nam on Wednesday. The Syrian president's office refused to comment on the report when contacted by AFP. Pyongyang and Damascus have mainJun 4, 2018
Moon's trip to Singapore during Trump-Kim meeting 'not decided yet' South Korea is still watching how negotiations between the United States and North Korea are going to determine whether President Moon Jae-in should fly to Singapore to join U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in declaring an end to the Korean War, an official said Monday.The possibility of Moon traveling to the Southeast Asian nation gained traction after Trump said last week following a meeting with senior North Korean official Kim Yong-chol that his June 12 summit with the North's leader could include formally ending the war.Should the U.S. and the North agree to use the summit to declare an end to the 1950-53 conflict, Moon would have to travel to Singapore to join them. The Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the divided peninsula still technically at war.But a presidential official said no decision has been made yet on Moon's possible trip to Singapore."It's not that our government has entered into full-fledged preparations to join the North-U.S. summit," the official told reporters. "We're keeping an eye on negotiations beJun 4, 2018
North Korea's denuclearization will be 'process,' not one-shot deal A senior White House official acknowledged Sunday that it will take time to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program even if the United States would like to see immediate denuclearization.Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, made the remark on Fox News as the two countries prepare for a high-stakes nuclear summit in Singapore June 12."I think at the end of that process, that's the goal, unilateral denuclearization, disarming them and so forth," Kudlow said, noting that he is not directly involved in the talks. "It is going to be a process. But sure, these negotiations take time."The planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has raised expectations for a breakthrough in the decades-long standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.On Friday Trump appeared to play down the expectations, saying the unprecedented summit between the two countries will be the beginning of a process."You're not going to change Rome in a day. And I think that's a very realistic attitude," Kudlow said. "The keJun 4, 2018
Moon's role crucial for successful Singapore summit South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un walk together after their meeting at the northern side of Panmunjeom in North Korea on May 26. / Courtesy of Cheong Wa DaeBy Kim Jae-kyoungHopes for the Singapore summit between the U.S. and North Korea are running high after U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed Friday the historic meeting is back on for June 12.His announcement came after meeting with North Korean General Kim Yong-chul who hand-delivered a letter from Kim Jong-un.Analysts said the roles of South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping, from this point, will be critical to ensure success for the summit.They believe the U.S. and North Korea have agreed on denuclearization in principle but the two sides have yet to fully trust each other as they have different views of what denuclearization means.James Bindenagel, a Henry Kissinger professor for Governance and International Security at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn, Germany, said the key task for Moon is to help build trust between Trump and Kim.“Jun 3, 2018
PHOTOS 'Ticket to Pyongyang, please' Korean War veteran Ji Chang-ho shows his train ticket for Pyongyang (misspelled as Pyeongyang) at Seoul Station on June 3. He is one of 650 who booked the one-day ticket online. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukBy Ko Dong-hwanA train ticket from Seoul Station to Pyongyang may sound absurd on the Korean Peninsula, which has been split since the Korean War truce in 1953. But the trip almost came true on Sunday when the first “Seoul-to-Pyongyang” train departed as part of a government event in support of unification.The one day-only “Peace Rail” train, sponsored by national operator Korail and several pro-unification political circles, did not actually head to the North Korean capital but to Dorasan Station on the Gyeongui Line in Paju, close to the inter-Korean border. The Gyeongui Line service north of Dorasan was decommissioned during the Korean War in 1951. Pyongyang is about 200 kilometers north of the station.A woman and boy behind a mock-up replica of the Peace Rail train ― including a drawing of South Korean President Moon Jae-in ― at Seoul Station, JunJun 3, 2018
Chances growing for tripartite summit among Trump, Kim, Moon By Kim Bo-eunLikelihood is growing that President Moon Jae-in will join the leaders of North Korea and the United States following their June 12 summit in Singapore to discuss declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War, after U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned the possibility.After his meeting with top North Korean official Kim Yong-chol in Washington, D.C., on Friday (local time), Trump said they “talked about ending the war,” and referred to it as “something that could come out of the meeting” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.Kim Yong-chol visited the U.S. for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and to deliver a letter from the North Korean leader to Trump.Regarding guaranteeing the security of the North Korean regime, Trump said “We're going to make sure it's secure” and that North Korea has “potential to be a great country.”It was the first time the U.S. president mentioned the possibility of declaring an end to the war, although it has been mentioned as a way to guarantee the security of the North Korean regime in exchJun 3, 2018
Mattis warns of bumpy road to US, North Korea summit South Korea's Defence Minister Song Young-moo, left, U.S. Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis, center, and Japan's Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera attend a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the IISS Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, Sunday. / ReutersIt will be a ``bumpy road'' to the nuclear negotiations with North Korea later this month, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned Sunday, telling his South Korean and Japanese counterparts they must maintain a strong defensive stance so the diplomats can negotiate from a position of strength.Mattis was speaking at the start of a meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo and Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera on the final day of the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference. He said allies must remain vigilant.``We can anticipate, at best, a bumpy road to the negotiations,'' Mattis said. ``In this moment we are steadfastly committed to strengthening even further our defense cooperation as the best means for preserving the peace.''Plans are moving forward for a nuclear weapons summit between President Donald Trump and Jun 3, 2018
Allies' defense chiefs vow support for summit diplomacy on North Korea South Korea's National Defense Minister Song Young-moo listens to the first plenary session led by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis during the 17th IISS Shangri-la Dialogue, an annual defense and security forum in Asia, in Singapore, Saturday. / YonhapThe defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States agreed Saturday to maintain their robust alliance in the face of North Korea's recent peace offensive.In talks held on the margins of the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security forum, in Singapore, Defense Minister Song Young-moo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis shared the view that the summit between the North and the U.S. later this month will serve as a "historic chance" for the denuclearization of the peninsula and establishment of permanent peace, according to Seoul's defense ministry.They agreed to bolster "communication and coordination" to provide "military-level" support for the creation of positive conditions for the success of the summit scheduled to take place in Singapore on June 12, the ministry added.Regardless of the security conditions in Korea, Mattis said, WJun 3, 2018
