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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

Fate of 10,000 Pyongyang nuclear scientists up in the air

North Korean scientists work at a nuclear facility in Yongbyun, North Pyongan Province. / Korea Times file, screen capture from YTNBy Ko Dong-hwanNorth Korea has taken to the road to complete denuclearization ― at least superficially ― after announcing it would demolish its nuclear test site in front of invited international media outlets. However, while the communist state's unexpected step has raised expectations of peace across Northeast Asia, the objective will take longer than many have hoped because the future whereabouts of North Korean scientists ― the cerebral foundation behind North Korea's nuclear weapons ― remains a critical point as Pyongyang waits for the June summit with the U.S. and further meetings with leaders from other countries involved in the geopolitical issue. Experts in Korea and other countries say that “dismantlement of intelligence” involving up to 10,000 scientists ― including 200 core leaders, 2,000 experts and 6,000 technicians ― is required along with the demise of test site in Punggye-ri scheduled for May 23-25. But questions linger whethe

May 14, 2018
Fate of 10,000 Pyongyang nuclear scientists up in the air
  • North Korea to publicly blow up nuclear test site on May 23-25
  • North Korea, US in talks over denuke roadmap
  • Pompeo: US firms could invest in North Korea if it denuclearizes
  • John Bolton: US wants to take North Korean nukes to Tennessee
  • Why North Korea excludes Japan from onsite nuclear inspection

North Korean delegation visits China: reports

A North Korean delegation arrived in Beijing on Monday, Japanese media said, as the two allies step up diplomatic contacts ahead of a landmark meeting between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump.Japanese broadcaster NHK showed images of officials leaving the VIP area of the Chinese capital's airport. The broadcaster said later the group had arrived at the Diaoyutai government guest house although the identity of the visitors was not immediately known.The report comes a week after Kim made his second trip to China in less than two months to again meet with President Xi Jinping.Kim's latest visit was to the northeastern port city of Dalian, as the two countries seek to mend frayed ties with a diplomatic thaw in the region gathering pace. Relations fell to a new low in the past year as Beijing, angered by Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests, backed a series of United Nations sanctions against its Cold War-era ally.But Beijing is keen to avoid being sidelined in the wake of Kim's historic summit last month with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and ahead of his upcoming meeting with Trump in

May 14, 2018
North Korean delegation visits China: reports

Kim Jong-un 'wants 14 Gaeseong-like towns'

North Korean diplomat defector's book about Kim Jong-un, “Password from the three-story secretariat: Thae Yong-ho's testimony”/ YonhapBy Oh Young-jin Thae Yong-ho, a senior North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea in 2016, says in his memoire that North Korea wanted 14 industrial parks like the one set up at the border town of Gaeseong as example of inter-Korean business cooperation."Thanks to the Gaeseong Industrial Park, the city has become more prosperous and better controlled than any other place," Thae says in his book, "Password from the three-story secretariat _ Thae Yong-ho's testimony." It is Thae's first book, and has been released ahead of the June 12 North Korea-U.S. Summit in Singapore.The three-story secretariat is the center of power where Kim works, comparable to Cheong Wa Dae or the White House. It came to be known to the public when Kim received President Moon Jae-in's envoy, Chung Eui-yong, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Thae quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as saying that Gaeseong did not need any control over Gaeseong because

May 14, 2018
Kim Jong-un 'wants 14 Gaeseong-like towns'
  • 'Kim Jong-un will not give up nukes'

John Bolton: US wants to take North Korean nukes to Tennessee

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton / REUTERSU.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said Sunday there will be no benefits to North Korea before it fully dismantles all elements of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are set to meet in Singapore next month to discuss the issue of the North's denuclearization.The U.S. will be putting on the table the dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons and equipment, as well as its ballistic missile program and chemical and biological weapons, Trump's top national security aide told ABC News."I think the implementation of the decision means getting rid of all the nuclear weapons, dismantling them, taking them to Oak Ridge, Tennessee," Bolton said, referring to the site of a nuclear weapons plant, which stores Libya's dismantled nuclear weapons equipment."It means getting rid of the uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing capabilities," he added. "It means addressing the ballistic missile issue ... They're going to have to reveal all of their locations. Th

May 14, 2018
John Bolton: US wants to take North Korean nukes to Tennessee
  • Fate of 10,000 Pyongyang nuclear scientists up in the air

Pompeo: US firms could invest in North Korea if it denuclearizes

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in this May 9, 2018 photo released on May 10, 2018 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang. / REUTERSUS ready to offer North Korea security assurances, investmentThe United States is prepared to offer North Korea security assurances and bountiful private investment if it makes the strategic choice to give up its nuclear weapons, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged Sunday.The U.S. price for normalization ― complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization ― is one Pyongyang has never before been willing to pay, seeing nuclear weapons as the ultimate guarantee of the regime's survival.But both countries have been on charm offensives ahead of the summit June 12 in Singapore between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, the first ever between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader. On Saturday, North Korea said it will destroy its nuclear test site later this month ― a gesture Trump quickly hailed as "very smart and gracious."Pompeo, who has met twice with Kim, des

May 14, 2018
Pompeo: US firms could invest in North Korea if it denuclearizes
  • North Korea to publicly blow up nuclear test site on May 23-25
  • N. Korea vows not to make unannounced missile tests
  • Pyongyang 'scales down' annual tank exercise
  • Moon, Kim to talk over inter-Korean hotline 'soon'
  • Trump to visit Seoul after meeting with Kim Jong-un: report
  • North Korea, US in talks over denuke roadmap
  • Fate of 10,000 Pyongyang nuclear scientists up in the air

North Korea, US in talks over denuke roadmap

A TV screen  at Seoul Railway Station shows a satellite image of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea during a news program, Sunday. North Korea said Saturday that it will dismantle the test site in less than two weeks, in a dramatic event that would set up leader Kim Jong Un's summit with President Donald Trump next month. / AP-YonhapAll eyes on dismantling of Punggye-ri test siteBy Yi Whan-wooNorth Korea will dismantle its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri between May 23 and 25, the first step toward its “complete denuclearization” in line with an agreement reached between the leaders of the two Koreas, April 27. The North will also invite journalists from South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and the United Kingdom to witness the dismantlement.Announced by its foreign ministry, Saturday, Pyongyang's plan to close its nuclear test facility is also seen as a bid to build trust with Washington prior to a planned summit between leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore, June 12.“A ceremony for dismantling the nuclear test groun

May 13, 2018
North Korea, US in talks over denuke roadmap
  • Kim Jong-un wants to be 'normal' leader
  • N. Korea vows not to make unannounced missile tests
  • Pyongyang 'scales down' annual tank exercise
  • Moon, Kim to talk over inter-Korean hotline 'soon'
  • Top diplomats of S. Korea, US reaffirm alliance
  • Trump to visit Seoul after meeting with Kim Jong-un: report
  • Pompeo: US firms could invest in North Korea if it denuclearizes
  • Fate of 10,000 Pyongyang nuclear scientists up in the air

Trump, Kim likely to meet at Shangri-La Hotel

Singapore PM Lee vows to facilitate 'successful summit'SINGAPORE ― U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are expected to meet at the Shangri-la Hotel next month, according to industry sources and experts, Sunday.Together with Singapore's iconic Marina Bay Sands (MBS), the Shangri-La has been viewed as one of the most likely locations for the June 12 summit, which was announced by Trump late Thursday.According to multiple travel agencies and sources here, three hotels ― The Shangri-La, Ritz Carlton Millennia and JW Marriot South Beach ― have blocked all available rooms for the upcoming summit after the Thursday announcement.“A day after Trump's announcement, we tried to secure rooms on the dates surrounding the summit en bloc for those coming for the summit but we heard from the three hotels that there is no room available,” said a manager at a Singapore-based tour operator on condition of anonymity.“They did not explain why but it is obvious that they stopped public sales because of the summit.”One South Korean journalist successfully

May 13, 2018
Trump, Kim likely to meet at Shangri-La Hotel
  • Trump to visit Seoul after meeting with Kim Jong-un: report

Agricultural research center opens in N. Korea

Agricultural research center opens in N. Korea: Vegetables are planted at a research lab operated by North Korea’s new agricultural research center. The center opened on May 9 with the aim of improving the country’s agricultural technology and helping to rebuild the economy. / Korean Central News Agency

May 13, 2018
Agricultural research center opens in N. Korea

Trump to visit Seoul after meeting with Kim Jong-un: report

By Park Si-soo U.S. President Donald Trump will visit South Korea and Japan after his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on June 12, Japanese media Nikkei reported Sunday.The dates of Trump's visit to the two countries are not set yet. His primary goal of visiting Seoul and Tokyo would be to brief leaders of South Korea and Japan on his meeting with Kim and above all, to fine-tune diplomatic coordination over North Korea, Nikkei reported, citing unidentified diplomatic sources.Trump is also expected to meet Abe ahead of the summit with Kim, on the sidelines of the June 8-9 Group of Seven summit in Charlevoix, Canada, according to Nikkei.During the meeting, Abe is expected to raise the issue of past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea and to urge Trump to push North Korea to abandon short- and medium-range missiles that can reach Japan, Nikkei added.Nikkei said there was speculation that Chinese President Xi Jinping would visit Singapore when Trump and Kim meet there because China was becoming wary of the U.S. leading the effort to denuclear

May 13, 2018
Trump to visit Seoul after meeting with Kim Jong-un: report
  • Trump, Kim likely to meet at Shangri-La Hotel
  • North Korea, US in talks over denuke roadmap
  • Pompeo: US firms could invest in North Korea if it denuclearizes

Pyongyang 'scales down' annual tank exercise

By Yi Whan-wooNorth Korea has scaled down its annual exercise involving tank and other armored vehicle units, according to sources familiar with Pyongyang.The sources said last week North Korea mobilized its armored units on the border regions for first the first time this year and held the firing exercise accordingly.It said the number of participating units and equipment fell sharply from last year and that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not attend.Kim observed the event in 2016 and 2017.“It was confirmed that Kim was not there,” a source said.The annual exercise has usually been held in frontline areas for training but has been conducted in a manner similar to an actual battle.Tanks are scored by how fast and how well they fire at moving and fixed targets, as well as their skill in avoiding obstacles.Kim, a diehard basketball fan, has changed the armored units’ training into a kind of sports competition and has prodded even aged unit commanders to drive tanks in the contest, according to the sources.They said scaling down the exercise was seen as bid to cope

May 13, 2018
  • North Korea, US in talks over denuke roadmap
  • Pompeo: US firms could invest in North Korea if it denuclearizes
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