Tag: North Korea

North Korea’s Kim arrives in Hanoi for nuclear summit with Trump

  by Jenny VAUGHAN / Richard CARTER Agence France Presse HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — Kim Jong Un arrived in Hanoi to throngs of cheering, flag-waving crowds Tuesday, on the eve of a second summit with Donald Trump the world is closely watching for tangible progress over North Korea’s nuclear programme. After a historic initial meeting in Singapore in June that produced only a vague statement about denuclearisation, analysts say the second date must deliver more […]

North Korean leader rides train on way to Vietnam

by Poornima WEERASEKARA Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s armoured train chugged across China on Sunday as he headed to his highly anticipated second summit with US President Donald Trump in Vietnam. Emulating his late father and grandfather, who took epic train trips when they were leaders, Kim set off on the long journey from Pyongyang on Saturday. The train crossed the border city of Dandong later that […]

North Korea asks UN to help address food shortage

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — North Korea has asked UN aid agencies for help to address a looming food crisis after figures forecast a sharp drop in crop production for this year, a UN spokesman said Thursday. Pyongyang has told the United Nations that it is facing a shortfall of 1.4 million tons in food production this year, including crops of rice, wheat, potato and soybean. “The government has requested assistance from international humanitarian […]

Kim must make ‘meaningful’ gesture to see sanctions ease: Trump

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un must make a “meaningful” gesture if he wants to see sanctions lifted, US President Donald Trump said Wednesday ahead of a second summit between the two men. “The sanctions are on in full. I haven’t taken sanctions off,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I’d love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something that’s meaningful […]

Seoul willing to resume inter-Korean cooperation ahead of summit: Moon

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Seoul is willing to resume inter-Korean economic cooperation if it would help to hasten Pyongyang’s denuclearisation, President Moon Jae-in said in a phone call with Donald Trump on Tuesday. The US President and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to meet in Hanoi for a much-anticipated second summit on February 27-28 following their landmark first meeting in Singapore last year. Those talks –- the first-ever between the leaders […]

N. Korea faces ‘historic turning point’, says state media ahead of summit

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea is facing a “significant, historic turning point”, state media said on Monday, ahead of a highly-anticipated second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. The meeting between the two leaders — which will be the second time the pair have come together following their Singapore summit in June — is scheduled for Hanoi, Vietnam on February 27-28. Attention has been focused on whether the US team will […]

Pompeo calls Iran more destabilizing than N. Korea

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo underlined the need for different foreign policy approaches to Iran and North Korea in comments published Thursday, describing Tehran as more “destabilizing” than Pyongyang. “We’ve made very clear that these situations are very different. We take each of them where we find them,” he told US television station CBS in excerpts of a transcript released by the State Department. Washington set 12 tough conditions […]

Hard work still needed before Kim-Trump summit – US envoy

by Claire Lee with Olivia Hampton in Washington Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — There was still some hard work to be done ahead of the upcoming summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a Washington envoy said Saturday after three days of talks in Pyongyang. Stephen Biegun, the US Special Representative for North Korea, said preparatory talks had been productive, but more dialogue was needed ahead […]

Kim ‘satisfaction’ over Trump letter as talks approach

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has expressed “great satisfaction” after receiving a letter from US President Donald Trump ahead of a second summit between the two leaders, Pyongyang’s state media reported Thursday. Kim is making “good technical preparations” for the meeting, the official KCNA news agency said, in the isolated nation’s first comments on the talks scheduled for next month. The letter was handed to Kim by one of his […]

Trump, Kim to meet anew in month after N.Korean visits White House

by Shaun TANDON Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump will meet for the second time with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un around the end of February, the White House said Friday, after a top general from Pyongyang paid a rare visit to Washington. Vice Chairman Kim Yong Chol, a right-hand man to the North Korean strongman, met the embattled president at the White House for an unusually long 90 […]

Top N.Korean in Washington to prepare new Trump summit

by Shaun TANDON Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A top North Korean general was paying a rare visit Friday to Washington, where he is expected to meet President Donald Trump to finalize a new summit aimed at denuclearization and easing decades of hostility. Kim Yong Chol, a right-hand man to leader Kim Jong Un, is the first North Korean dignitary in nearly two decades known to have spent the night in the […]

Huge North Korean beach resort ‘nearing completion’

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A giant beach resort in North Korea is nearing completion, a US monitor said Thursday, with satellite pictures showing rapid progress on the sprawling development, now equipped with a water slide and cinema. The seaside strip known as the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area is squeezed between a new airport and the country’s east coast, in an area that has previously been used for artillery drills and ballistic missile launches. It […]