PM underlines US role in denuke talks with NK South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon stands to give a speech during a meeting with South Korean residents and businesspeople in Dublin, Ireland, Wednesday.By Park Ji-wonPrime Minister Lee Nak-yon has emphasized the role of the United States in denuclearizing North Korea, saying that ensuring the security of the Kim Jong-un regime was key to resolving the issue. “When it comes to the North's denuclearization, the U.S. has to play a main role as it is related to the issue of ensuring the North Korean regime's security,” Lee told reporters while visiting Dublin, Ireland, as part of a European tour.Lee emphasized South Korea and the U.S. had already made that clear in a joint declaration between the two countries made in June last year.“The basic role of the U.S., (on who leads the denuclearization) was already settled in the joint declaration made by South Korea and the U.S.”“Regarding denuclearization, we decided to let the U.S. do the job during the Panmunjeom summit between the two Koreas. I am just stating the facts we already made clear in the jointMay 30, 2018
NBC: CIA report says North Korea won't denuclearize U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un / AFPBy Jung Min-hoA new U.S. intelligence assessment has concluded that North Korea will not give up its nuclear weapons any time soon, NBC News reported Wednesday.U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing a nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un even though the CIA analysis, accordiung to the report."Everybody knows they are not going to denuclearize," said one intelligence official who read the report was quoted as saying.However, in an odd twist, North Korea may agree to open a Western hamburger franchise in Pyongyang as a show of goodwill. It suggests Kim is interested in a peaceful gesture to Trump whose love of fast-food burgers is well known, NBC observed.May 30, 2018
US says North Korea behind malware attacks Kim Yong-chol / APThe Trump administration issued a fresh warning Tuesday about malicious North Korean cyber activity, as that nation's leader dispatched a top adviser to New York to prepare for a possible summit on its nuclear arsenal.The technical alert from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security highlighted two pieces of malware said to have been used to target U.S. infrastructure and aerospace, financial and media companies for at least nine years to steal information and remotely manipulate networks.In recent years, the United States has accused North Korea of launching a slew of cyberattacks, and it wasn't immediately clear if there was any significance to the timing of the latest warning, which came as President Donald Trump is eying nuclear talks with leader Kim Jong Un.In preparation for the summit, Kim Yong-chol, a former four-star army general and military intelligence chief, is set to meet in New York with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ― a rare visit to the U.S. by a high-level North Korean official. Kim Yong-chol is suspected to have been behind a 2014 hack of May 30, 2018
US 'very engaged' on North Korean human rights issue: official Sam Brownback, ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom / APThe United States is "very engaged" in efforts to end North Korea's human rights abuses as the two sides prepare for a potential meeting between their leaders next month, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.Sam Brownback, ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, told reporters the issue is being discussed at the highest levels ahead of the summit expected for June 12 in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un."In a sense it already has (been raised), with the three people that were released that the Secretary (of State Mike Pompeo) brought back," Brownback said at a press briefing announcing the release of the State Department's annual report on international religious freedom.Pompeo flew to Pyongyang earlier this month to lay the groundwork for the summit, which, if held, would focus on dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program. On that visit, North Korea released three U.S. prisoners in a show of good faith."The president is right on poinMay 30, 2018
Top North Korean official to meet Pompeo U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice Chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee Kim Yong-chol will meet in New York this week amid intensifying U.S.-North Korean summit preparations. / AFP By Kim Bo-eunKey North Korean and U.S. officials will meet in New York, Wednesday (local time), to possibly draw up the draft of an agreement on denuclearizing the North ahead of a summit between their leaders in Singapore, June 12.Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the North Korean Workers’ Party Kim Yong-chol is set to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Wednesday and Thursday to finalize the deal in which North Korea is expected to be guaranteed security in exchange for giving up its nuclear program.Kim will visit the U.S. as the de-facto special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The official is reportedly carrying a letter from Kim Jong-un to U.S. President Donald Trump, and, if this is true, could fly to Washington to deliver it. This speculation is based on the fact that Trump said in his May 24 letter to Kim cancelling the suMay 30, 2018
Singapore's presidential palace may host Kim-Trump summit: report The Istana, or presidential palace, in Singapore. / Captured from WikipediaBy Park Si-soo Singapore's presidential palace, also known as the Istana, could host the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump, a report said on Tuesday. Citing unidentified diplomatic sources, South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo daily reported that the Istana is one of the places under consideration as the summit venue. “Istana could be the venue,” JoongAng quoted a source as saying, “considering the magnitude and sensitivity of the summit.” Shangri-La Hotel is another location that could host the meeting. The exact site will soon be decided as details of the summit are taking shape through working-level talks in Panmunjeom in Korea and Singapore. The Istana is the official residence and office of the President of Singapore. It is also the working office of Singapore's Prime Minister. May 29, 2018
PHOTOS Kim Jong-un's right-hand man heading to New York for pre-summit talks In this image made from video, Kim Yong-chol, center, a former military intelligence chief who is now Kim Jong-un's top official on inter-Korean relations, walks upon arrival at Beijing airport in Beijing Tuesday, May 29, 2018. He was at North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's side at the table in last weekend's North-South summit, and had been a prominent senior official in other important talks. It was not possible to confirm the reason for his visit to Beijing, or if he would be traveling on to another destination. / APBy Kim Bo-eunVice Chairman of the Central Committee of the North Korean Workers’ Party Kim Yong-chol is to visit the U.S., Wednesday, for what appears to be high-level talks, amid a flurry of preparations for the Pyongyang-Washington summit that is presumably to be held June 12 in Singapore.Kim is set to take a flight to New York departing at 1 p.m., Wednesday. He arrived at the Beijing Capital International Airport a day earlier.He is expected to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to finalize the framework for North Korea’s denuclearization ahead oMay 29, 2018
After one-day break, US, North Korea resume 'agenda setting' talks at DMZ U.S. Amb. Sung Kim and North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui.U.S. and North Korean officials will meet again on the inter-Korean border after a one-day break Monday, a diplomatic source said, as they continue preparations for a potential summit between their leaders.The two sides met Sunday (Korea time) on the northern side of the border, with the U.S. delegation led by Amb. Sung Kim and the North Korean delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui.These teams are reportedly responsible for agreeing on the substance of any summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which was originally planned for June 12 in Singapore but canceled by the American president last week.Trump has since said the summit could still be held on the same date."The two sides held their first working-level meeting Sunday and then took a break without meeting again on Monday," the source told Yonhap on condition of anonymity. "I believe they plan to meet again as early as Tuesday and no later than Wednesday."The one-day break was intended as a sort of "breaMay 29, 2018
Trump, Abe to meet before Singapore summit U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed Monday to meet ahead of the president's planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the White House said.Trump and Abe spoke by phone after the U.S. leader canceled his June 12 meeting with Kim, citing "open hostility" from the regime, and then put it back on track.They "confirmed they would meet again to continue close coordination in advance of the expected meeting between the United States and North Korea," the White House said in a statement."The President and Prime Minister affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs."If held, the Trump-Kim meeting in Singapore will focus on dismantling the North's nuclear weapons program. Tokyo has urged Washington to also address the issue of North Korea's short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, which pose a direct threat to Japan, and the unresolved abductions of Japanese citizens by Pyongyang decades ago.U.S. officials have beeMay 29, 2018
Moon may visit Singapore during Trump-Kim summit President Moon Jae-in holds a press briefing on his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Cheong Wa Dae, Saturday. / YonhapBy Park Ji-wonPresident Moon Jae-in may visit Singapore while the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is taking place there next month, a Cheong Wa Dae official said Monday.Moon's possible visit, however, hinges on how dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea unfolds, the official said.This prompted speculation that the two Korean leaders and the U.S. leader may jointly declare a formal end to the Korean War in Singapore depending on the outcome of the Kim-Trump summit.“(The success of making an announcement of ending the war through a trilateral summit) is dependent on the result of the North-U.S. summit,” the official said when asked about Moon preparing to go to Singapore.The official added that “there are two issues on the summit table; denuclearization and ensuring the security of the North Korean regime. The declaration of the end of the (Korean) war is part of guaranteeing the NoMay 28, 2018
