HONOLULU, United States (AFP) – The United States and South Korea are going to keep tightening the screws on Pyongyang so that the hermit state gives up its nuclear program, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said Friday. “As two peace-loving nations, the Republic of Korea and America welcome the Olympic Games talks between the ROK and DPRK while at the same time remaining steadfast with the international economic pressure campaign to denuclearize the Korean peninsula,” Mattis said in […]
Tag: Pyongyang
Two Koreas in fresh talks on Winter Olympics
by Jung Ha-Won Agence France-Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North and South Korea began talks Monday on appearances by performers from Pyongyang’s state-run artistic troupes at next month’s Winter Olympics in the South, after the North agreed to attend the Games. Pyongyang agreed last week to send athletes, high-level officials, and others to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, easing months of high tensions over its weapons programmes. The two sides agreed an art troupe […]
Hawaii rattled after alert of incoming missile is mistakenly sent
by Eugene Tanner, with Maggy Donaldson in Washington Agence France-Presse HONOLULU, United States (AFP) – An alert warning of an incoming ballistic missile aimed at Hawaii was sent in error Saturday, sowing panic and confusion across the US state — which is already on edge over the risk of attack — before officials dubbed it a “false alarm.” Emergency management officials eventually determined the notification was sent just after 8:00 am (1800 GMT) during a shift […]
North Korea says will attend Olympics in rival South
by Hwang Sunghee Agence France-Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea said it was willing to send athletes and a high-level delegation to the forthcoming Winter Olympics in the South on Tuesday as the rivals held their first official talks in more than two years after high tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. Seoul urged that reunions of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War — one of the most emotive legacies of the […]
North and South Korea agree to first talks in two years
by Park Chan-Kyong Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North and South Korea agreed on Friday to hold their first talks in more than two years, hours after Seoul and Washington decided to defer joint military exercises which always infuriate Pyongyang until after the Winter Olympics. The meeting, the first since December 2015, will take place in Panmunjom, the truce village in the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula. South […]
South Korea proposes high-level talks with North
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – South Korea Tuesday proposed holding high-level talks with Pyongyang on January 9, after the North’s leader Kim Jong-Un called for a breakthrough in relations and said Pyongyang might attend the Winter Olympics. Kim used his annual New Year address to underscore Pyongyang’s claim that it has developed a weapons deterrent and warn that he had a “nuclear button” on hand, but sweetened his remarks by expressing an interest in dialogue and participating […]
China rejects Trump accusation on N. Korea sanction breaches
BEIJING, China (AFP) – China on Friday rejected accusations that it had helped Pyongyang skirt sanctions after US President Donald Trump claimed on Twitter that Beijing was turning a blind eye to oil transfers to North Korea. Trump’s tweet was the latest salvo in his battle to persuade China to tighten the economic screws on Pyongyang over its missile and nuclear programmed, in a campaign that has seen him heap both praise and criticism on Beijing. “Caught […]
UN bars four N.Korean ships from international ports
by Philippe RATER Agence France-Presse UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The UN Security Council on Thursday denied international port access to four North Korean ships suspected of carrying or having transported goods banned by international sanctions targeting Pyongyang, diplomats told AFP. The ban of the four vessels — the Ul Ji Bong 6, Rung Ra 2, Sam Jong 2 and Rye Song Gang 1 — brings the UN’s total number of blocked ships to […]
Tillerson defends foreign policy record at year’s end
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The United States’ top diplomat defended his country’s foreign policy record on Wednesday, saying progress had been made in the last year to rein in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and to counter the “immense challenges” posed by Russia, China and Iran. In an opinion piece in the New York Times, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said some 90 percent of Pyongyang’s export earnings had been cut off by a series of international […]
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 […]
Olympics chief seeks North Korea visit – report
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Olympics chief Thomas Bach is hoping to visit North Korea as early as this month to discuss Pyongyang’s participation in the 2018 Winter Games, a report said Friday. South Korean organizers of the Pyeongchang Olympics are pushing for the North to compete as they hope to portray the event as a symbol of peace on the flashpoint peninsula. The North missed the October 30 deadline to confirm its participation, although […]
South Korea’s Moon to visit China next week
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-In will visit China next week for talks on North Korea and other issues, his office said Wednesday, amid tentative signs of diplomatic movement after months of high tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile threats. The announcement came as a high-level United Nations representative held talks with a senior North Korean official during a rare trip to Pyongyang. Jeffrey Feltman, UN undersecretary general for political affairs, […]





