SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has invited the South’s President Moon Jae-in for a summit in Pyongyang, Seoul said Saturday. The invitation, delivered by Kim’s visiting sister Kim Yo Jong, said Kim was willing to meet the South’s leader “at the earliest date possible”, said a spokesman for the presidential Blue House. An inter-Korean summit would be the third of its kind, after Kim’s father and predecessor Kim Jong Il met […]
Tag: 2018
Alibaba’s Ma hopes Beijing 2022 can be smarter, cheaper, faster
GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AFP) — Billionaire Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma foresees an Olympics that is better for fans and athletes and is more economical — and hopes Beijing 2022 will be the pinnacle of that vision. Ma’s e-commerce giant in January launched a multimillion-dollar partnership until 2028 with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) designed to propel the Olympics headlong into the digital era. The deal was particularly significant with the 2022 Winter Olympics taking place on Alibaba’s […]
North and South Korea heads of state meet, shake hands
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the North’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam met and shook hands Friday ahead of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Kim Yong Nam, who is officially leading Pyongyang’s diplomatic delegation to the Games, met Moon at a leaders’ reception ahead of the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang. Moon and his wife received their guests one by one and the two men smiled as […]
Pence announces ‘toughest’ US sanctions on North Korea
by Hiroshi Hiyama and Richard Carter © Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Washington will soon unveil its “toughest sanctions ever” on North Korea, US Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday, adding that the Pyongyang regime would not be allowed to “hijack” the upcoming Olympics. Speaking in Japan before attending the opening ceremony of the Winter Games in South Korea, Pence pledged that Washington would “intensify its maximum pressure campaign” on the North, working with Tokyo. “I’m […]
Japan protests unified Korea Olympic flag with disputed isles
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan said Monday it had lodged a protest with South Korea over the “unacceptable” use of a unified Korean Olympic flag that features a set of disputed islands. The two Koreas have agreed to march together under the unification flag — a pale blue silhouette of the peninsula — at the Games’ opening ceremony on February 9, and to form a combined women’s ice hockey team. The flag shows a […]
N. Korea names delegates for inter-Korean talks
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea has sent a list of its delegation for a rare high-level meeting with the South this week, the unification ministry in Seoul said Sunday. The two Koreas agreed Friday to hold their first official dialogue in more than two years and are expected to discuss the North’s participation in next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea. The North Korean delegation for Tuesday’s meeting in the truce village of Panmunjom will […]
North Korea ‘likely’ to join Winter Games, says IOC official
Beijing, China (AFP) — North Korea’s Olympic representative said Saturday the reclusive nation was “likely to participate” in next month’s Winter Games in South Korea, Kyodo news agency reported, in the latest sign of a thaw in tensions on the peninsula. The comments by Chang Ung, Pyongyang’s representative to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), come a day after the North and South agreed to hold rare talks next week and follow Seoul and Washington’s announcement […]
First tropical depression in 2018 “Agaton” enters PHL on New Year’s day, puts 17 provinces under signal #1
(Eagle News) — The country’s first tropical depression for the new year has entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on the first day of year 2018, and is now named “Agaton”, placing at least 17 provinces mostly in Mindanao under tropical cyclone warning signal number 1. In its latest weather bulletin issued at 5 p.m., the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said that low pressure area (LPA) east Southeast of […]
Look: Fireworks at the ancient Acropolis in Athens, Greece
New Year fireworks at the Kremlin
Spectacular Hong Kong fireworks welcome year 2018
Look: Highlights of the 30-minute fireworks display at the PHL Arena welcoming Year 2018





