North Korean human rights - potential flashpoint Kim Young-hwan, an advocate for human rights in North Korea, speaks at an international conference at the Seoul Global Center, Jongno, downtown Seoul, Thursday. / YonhapBy Lee Suh-yoonHuman rights abuses in North Korea are a global concern, but the U.S. and South Korea have taken a refrained approach to this issue recently.This is possibly because the two allies have a common understanding that raising human rights issues now could spoil ongoing denuclearization talks with North Korea.However, their “strategic ignorance” will not continue for long. If the North takes the path to becoming a “normal country” and expands exchanges with the outside world as a result of the talks, the issue could take center stage in relations with the North, according to analysts. “In the past, the North Korea human rights movement was merely empty echoes in the international sphere,” Kim Young-hwan, a North Korea human rights activist, said at a conference, Thursday. “But now, if open-market reforms are pursued and foreign investment goes up, North Korea will beJun 1, 2018
Sending leaflets to North Korea remains thorny issue Park Sang-hak, North Korean defector who now heads the Fighters for Free North. / Korea Korea Times photo by Bae So-youngBy Kim Ji-soo, Jung Da-minAmid inter-Korean detente, private citizens launching balloons carrying North Korea leaflets and USB storage devices containing news and information about prosperous South Korea have been causing ire in North Korea, as well as South Korea. One of the reasons was that in the historic April 27 Joint Panmunjeom Declaration, President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to cease all hostile acts against each other starting May 1, including loudspeaker broadcasts and leaflet launches along the border.Yet, one prominent sender of information and “truth” about the outside world, Park Sang-hak, along with several members of his group the Fighters for Free North Korea, launched five vinyl balloons on May 12 from the border city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The balloons carried leaflets criticizing North Korea, as well as U.S. dollar bills and USBs. The North on May 22 blasted Park and his group, referring to them as &lJun 1, 2018
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
