Asia

Malala makes first trip to Pakistan since Taliban attack

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) — Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai returned to Pakistan on Thursday, officials said, in her first visit to her native country since she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman for advocating education for girls in 2012. Precise details of her itinerary have been “kept secret in view of the sensitivity surrounding the visit,” a government official said of the trip, which is expected to last four days and include […]

Two Koreas to hold high-level talks

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Top officials from Pyongyang and Seoul will meet in the Demilitarized Zone Thursday to prepare for a summit between Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in, days after the North Korean leader made his international debut with a surprise trip to China. Kim is due to meet South Korean President Moon next month, followed by a landmark nuclear summit with US President Donald Trump, which could come as early as May. The […]

N. Korea’s Kim shows unity with China’s Xi in first foreign trip

by Laurent Thomet Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was treated to a lavish welcome by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a secretive trip to Beijing as both sides seek to repair frayed ties ahead of landmark summits with Seoul and Washington. On his first trip abroad since taking power, Kim and his wife were met with honor guards and a banquet hosted by Xi, according to state […]

Xi accepted Kim’s invitation to visit N. Korea: KCNA

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping accepted an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to visit Pyongyang when they met for the first time in Beijing, the North’s state media said Wednesday. On behalf of the North’s ruling party and government, Kim invited Xi “to make an official visit to the DPRK at a convenient time and the invitation was accepted with pleasure,” KCNA reported, using the country’s official acronym. © Agence […]

Kim visit to China is his ‘solemn duty’: KCNA

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un told Chinese President Xi Jinping that it was his “solemn duty” to make Beijing his first overseas destination as he made his maiden foreign trip as leader, Pyongyang’s official news agency reported Wednesday. The relationship between the North and its key protector has soured in recent years, with China increasingly exasperated by its neighbor’s nuclear antics, and recently showed a new willingness to enforce United […]

Kim said N. Korea ‘committed to denuclearization’: Xinhua

BEIJING, China (AFP) — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un told China’s President Xi Jinping his nuclear-armed regime was “committed to denuclearization,” the official Xinhua news agency said Wednesday, as he visited Pyongyang’s ally Beijing for the first time, ahead of proposed summits with Seoul and Washington. “The issue of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula can be resolved, if South Korea and the United States respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace […]

Kim held talks with Xi in Beijing: Xinhua

  BEIJING, China (AFP) — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un made his first-ever foreign trip as a leader to meet China’s president in Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency said Wednesday, ahead of proposed summits with Seoul and Washington that could unsettle nuclear-armed Pyongyang’s sole ally. During the visit from Sunday to Wednesday which came at the invitation of Xi Jinping, Kim held talks with the Chinese president who hosted a banquet to welcome the North […]

China will give information on Kim Jong Un visit rumors ‘in due course’

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China said on Tuesday it would release information on rumors that Kim Jong Un or another high-level North Korean official paid a visit to Beijing “in due course.” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular briefing she had “no information for the moment. Information will be published in due course.” © Agence France-Presse

Train thought to carry N. Korea official leaves Beijing station: Kyodo

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A train thought to be carrying a senior North Korean official left Beijing station Tuesday, Japan’s Kyodo News reported, with speculation rife that the North’s leader Kim Jong Un was making a surprise visit. It was not clear if Kim was aboard, Kyodo added, after the reported arrival Monday from Pyongyang of a special train met in Beijing by an honor guard. © Agence France-Presse

Abe ‘not involved’ in doctoring documents: key official

by Kyoko Hasegawa Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese official at the heart of a cronyism and cover-up scandal that has dented Shinzo Abe’s popularity said Tuesday that the prime minister’s office was not involved in falsifying documents. In hotly awaited parliamentary testimony beamed live on national television, Nobuhisa Sagawa said only his office took part in altering key documents relating to a controversial land sale. “This is an issue only for […]

Top North Korean official apparently in China: reports

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Japanese media reported on Monday that a train possibly carrying a high-level official from North Korea has arrived in Beijing, sparking speculation that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, may have been aboard. The Kyodo news agency, citing unidentified sources close to the matter, said the visit — if confirmed that it was a North Korean official — would likely be to improve ties between North Korea and China. Kim has […]

64 dead in Russian shopping mall fire

  by Anna Malpas Agence France Presse   MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — A total of 64 people some of them children perished in a fire that ravaged a busy shopping mall in an industrial city in Siberia, as rescue teams Monday struggled through piles of charred rubble to recover bodies. Russian television showed images of thick black smoke pouring out of the Winter Cherry shopping centre in the city of Kemerovo, which also houses a sauna, […]