Tag: Kim Jong Un

Kim vows to make N.Korea ‘world’s strongest nuclear power’: KCNA

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Kim Jong-Un has vowed to make North Korea the “world’s strongest nuclear power,” state media reported Wednesday, as the reclusive nation shows little sign of reining in a weapons program fuelling global alarm. The North has rattled the international community with a flurry of missile launches and its largest ever nuclear test in recent months in its bid to develop a warhead capable of striking the United States. Kim told workers […]

US, S. Korea, Japan start missile-tracking drill, irking China

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – The US, South Korea and Japan carried out joint exercises Monday to track missiles from North Korea, as China warned that such manoeuvres fuel tensions following nuclear-armed Pyongyang’s longest-range test launch to date. The trilateral drill comes less than two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and declared it had achieved nuclear statehood, escalating global alarm over its weapons push. The two-day exercise — the sixth since […]

Europe in reach of N. Korea missiles: France

PARIS, France (AFP) — Europe, like the United States, is now in reach of North Korea’s ballistic missiles, French Defense Minister Florence Parly warned Thursday. The regime’s test of its third intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday is “a demonstration of (Pyongyang’s) rising power” Parly told BFM television. “Europe like the United States is certainly within reach of these launches,” she said, adding that “few Western cities” would be out of range. An initial assessment by […]

N. Korea fires ballistic missile

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea fired a ballistic missile Wednesday, South Korean military officials said, the first such launch in two months and just a week after the US slapped fresh sanctions on the hermit state and declared it a state sponsor of terrorism. The North has stoked international alarm over its banned nuclear missile program but before Tuesday it had not staged a missile test since September 15, raising hopes that ramped-up sanctions were having an […]

Trump declares North Korea state sponsor of terror

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) –President Donald Trump on Monday declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, returning Kim Jong-Un’s nuclear-armed pariah regime to a short blacklist of targeted US foes. “Should have happened a long time ago. Should have happened years ago,” Trump declared, announcing the designation at the start of a White House cabinet meeting. North Korea is already under a wide array of United States and United Nations sanctions, and the terror designation […]

Chinese, North Korean envoys talk up ties despite nuclear tensions

SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — A senior Chinese envoy has met an aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in Pyongyang, the two sides said Saturday, stressing longstanding ties despite deep divisions over the North’s nuclear activities. Song Tao is visiting on behalf of President Xi Jinping, ostensibly to brief the North’s officials on the recent Chinese Communist Party congress and other “issues of mutual interest”. The two communist neighbours, once said by Mao Zedong to […]

China stands by its N. Korea plan, contradicting Trump

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China denied Thursday that it has abandoned its long-standing proposal to ease the North Korean nuclear crisis after US President Donald Trump suggested Beijing had agreed to drop the policy. Beijing has long campaigned for a “dual track approach” in which the United States would halt military drills in the region while North Korea would freeze its weapons programmes. But Trump suggested Wednesday following his five-nation trip to Asia, which included […]

Senate panel debates US president’s nuclear authority

by Ivan Couronne Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US senators probed the limits of a president’s unilateral power to launch a nuclear attack Tuesday, an increasingly weighty debate as tensions rise between an unpredictable Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un. The closely watched debate, organized and chaired by a prominent Republican Trump critic, addressed a hypothetical presidential decision to launch a nuclear first strike against an adversary. “Let’s just recognize […]

UN condemns N. Korea for firing missiles as people starve

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — UN member-states on Tuesday condemned North Korea for gross human rights violations and for conducting missile and nuclear tests while its people suffer from severe hunger. The UN General Assembly’s human rights committee adopted by consensus a resolution drafted by the European Union and Japan that expressed international concern over Pyongyang’s rights record. The measure will now go to the General Assembly for debate next month. North Korea conducted its sixth […]

Trump says he’s ‘open’ to meeting with N. Korean leader

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump would “certainly be open” to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, he said in an interview broadcast Sunday as he began an extended Asian tour. Asked by journalist Sharyl Attkisson, host of the “Full Measure” TV show, whether he would ever consider sitting down with “the dictator,” Trump said he was holding meetings with numerous Asian leaders. “I would sit down with anybody,” he said. […]

After Pearl Harbor, Trump embarks on Asia tour

by Jim Watson Agence France Presse After stopping in Hawaii to pay his respects at a Pearl Harbor memorial, US President Donald Trump reboarded Air Force One on Saturday for a marathon Asia tour as North Korea’s nuclear threat looms large. Trump and his wife Melania tossed flower petals into the waters of the USS Arizona memorial, later taking part in a wreath-laying ceremony to honor soldiers who died in a Japanese surprise attack in […]

China’s Xi sends rare message to North Korea’s Kim

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a rare message, Pyongyang’s official news agency reported Thursday, in his first public communication with his wayward neighbour for more than a year. The note signalled a possible improvement in their strained relationships, which has soured over Pyongyang’s growing weapons ambitions even though Beijing is its longtime ally and economic benefactor. Xi’s message, dated Wednesday, was sent in response to congratulations […]