Tag: Nuclear

In photos: Trump, Kim handshake starts historic summit; Trump predicts “terrific relationship” ahead

  United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made history on Tuesday, June 12, becoming the first sitting US and North Korean leaders to meet and shake hands, as they seek to end a tense decades-old nuclear stand-off. Trump predicted he would have a “terrific relationship” with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Tuesday, as the pair met for a historic Singapore summit. “We will have a terrific relationship, I have […]

Kim, Trump in countdown to historic summit

  by Andrew Beatty / Sebastien Berger © Agence France-Presse SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un were making last-minute preparations Monday on the eve of their historic summit, as officials scrambled to narrow yawning differences over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal. Tuesday’s meeting will be the first time a serving US president has sat down with the leader of North Korea, and comes just months after fears of conflict soared as the two traded […]

US, N. Korea officials in final summit preparations

  by Sebastien Berger © Agence France-Presse SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — North Korean and US negotiators met in Singapore Monday for final preparations on the eve of an unprecedented summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, seeking to bridge the gaps over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal. Tuesday’s meeting will be the first between a sitting US president and a leader of North Korea, whose nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions have raised global concerns and seen tensions […]

N. Korean leader Kim arrives in Singapore for historic Trump summit

  Singapore (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Singapore Sunday for an unprecedented summit with Donald Trump, an attempt to address the last festering legacy of the Cold War, with the US president calling it a “one time shot” at peace. Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal — which has seen it subjected to several sets of UN Security Council sanctions and threatened with military action by the Trump administration — will top the […]

Trump hosts Japan PM, five days before summit with Kim

  by Jerome Cartillier © Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — With less than a week to go before meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump plays host Thursday to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who wants his voice heard ahead of the unprecedented talks. Trump and Abe will hold a joint press conference at the White House in the early afternoon, before heading to Canada for what promises to be […]

US Democrats to Trump: Don’t spoil historic opportunity with N. Korea

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Democrats on Monday urged President Donald Trump not to squander the “historic” opportunity of a face-to-face summit with North Korea’s leader, as the lawmakers opposed any easing of sanctions without complete and verifiable denuclearization. Affirming their support for Trump’s scheduled June 12 meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, seven influential Democrats including Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned Trump against signing a deal at any cost, and laid […]

Netanyahu heads to Europe seeking about-face on Iran

by Deborah Cole © Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embarks Monday on a three-day European tour in Germany set to be dominated by strategic differences on Iran, as leaders attempt to rescue the nuclear deal after US withdrawal. With partners in Berlin, Paris and London still reeling from President Donald Trump’s decision last month to exit the hard-fought 2015 accord, Netanyahu is expected to seek European cooperation on a still-to-be-determined […]

Pompeo, top N. Korean official plan summit as Lavrov meets Kim

by Francesco Fontemaggi with Carole Landry Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a top North Korean official are set to continue talks in New York on Thursday to try to salvage next month’s nuclear summit, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov flew into Pyongyang for discussions with Kim Jong Un. Kim Yong Chol, considered the North Korean leader’s right-hand man, is the most senior official […]

Pompeo, Kim’s right-hand man, begin talks to prep nuclear summit

  by Francesco Fontemaggi with Carole Landry © Agence France-Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Kim Jong Un’s right-hand man began talks with President Donald Trump’s top diplomat on Wednesday amid a scramble to organize next month’s historic nuclear summit between the North Korean and US leaders. Kim Yong Chol, a veteran Pyongyang power player and a member of the young autocrat’s inner circle, flew in on an Air China flight from Beijing, becoming the […]

South Korea welcomes prospect of ‘reignited’ US-North Korea talks

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea on Saturday welcomed the renewed prospect of a summit between the United States and North Korea after President Trump cancelled talks with Kim Jong Un only to suggest they might still take place. “We find it fortunate that the embers of the North Korea-US talks are reignited. We are watching developments carefully,” Presidential Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-gyeom said. Trump’s cancellation of the summit blindsided treaty ally South […]

Updated: Trump says summit with North Korea’s Kim could still go ahead on June 12

by Jerome Cartillier/ with Park Chan-kyong in Seoul Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump, a day after his cancellation of a high-stakes summit with North Korea, said Friday that the meeting with Kim Jong Un could still go ahead. “We’re going to see what happens,” Trump told reporters at the White House, after welcoming Pyongyang’s latest statement on the talks as “very good news.” “It could even be the […]

In focus: The nuclear test site North Korea decided to destroy

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Huge explosions reportedly shook North Korea’s only known nuclear test site on Thursday, in a ceremony that Pyongyang said had “completely” destroyed the facility near the Chinese border. The Punggye-ri test site, located beneath a mountain in the far northeast, hosted all six nuclear tests Pyongyang has conducted — most recently last September. Earlier this month the North announced it would blow up the site’s access tunnels in front of […]