SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North and South Korea held high-level talks Friday to discuss their ongoing efforts to improve ties ahead of a landmark meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. The North-South discussions were originally scheduled for earlier this month but were abruptly called off by Pyongyang in response to a joint US-South Korea air force drill. But a day after “Max Thunder” ended May 25, the North’s leader had […]
Tag: talks
Trump sees ‘brilliant potential’ for N.Korea as summit prep continues
by Brian Knowlton Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US and North Korean officials met Sunday at a border truce village as preparations resumed for a high-stakes, high-drama summit that President Donald Trump said held “brilliant potential” for the North. “I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day,” Trump said on Twitter. “Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It […]
Trump vows to work ‘very, very hard’ for Japanese held in N.Korea
PALM BEACH, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would work to help Tokyo bring home from North Korea Japanese citizens who were abducted in the 1970s and 1980s to help Pyongyang train its spies. Trump, who was addressing reporters with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his side, said: “We will work very hard on that issue and we will work hard to try and bring those folks back — […]
Top Chinese, US officials to continue trade talks: Xinhua
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s top economic official Liu He spoke by phone with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Saturday and “agreed to continue to communicate” on trade issues, the official Xinhua news agency said. The call came at a time of heightened tensions after US President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized tariffs on as much as $60 billion of Chinese imports, targeting sectors in which Washington says Beijing has stolen American technology. Liu He, […]
US still ‘not heard directly back’ from N.Korea: Tillerson
ABUJA, Nigeria (AFP) — The United States has still “not heard anything directly back” from Pyongyang over plans for a US-North Korean summit, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday as he urged patience. “There will be several steps (which) will be necessary to agree on the location and the scope of those discussions. We have not heard anything directly back from North Korea although we expect to hear something,” he said in the […]
Kim and Trump to meet by May: South Korea
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump have agreed to meet to secure a deal to remove nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula, the US and South Korean officials said Thursday “I told President Trump that at our meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he’s committed to denuclearization,” said South Korean National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong, who came to Washington after talks in Pyongyang. “Kim pledged […]
Togo talks offer ‘last chance’ to resolve crisis
by Emile Kouton with Celia Lebur in Lagos © Agence France-Presse LOME, Togo (AFP) — After six months of political crisis, a dialogue between Togo’s government and the opposition opening on Monday is seen by many as the last chance to resolve a bitter dispute over the rule of embattled President Faure Gnassingbe. But the talks have raised a welter of emotions in this tiny west African country, ranging from hope to incredulity. “It’s a ‘last […]
Facebook joins Europol talks to fight Islamist propaganda
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Facebook took part this week in key talks with European police agencies on how to stop and eliminate violent and terror-related Islamic jihadist posts, in an evolving battle against such propaganda. Representatives from the giant social network travelled to The Hague for Thursday’s unprecedented talks at Europol’s headquarters in the city, officials said Friday. They were also joined by Instagram officials and police from Britain, France and Belgium, aiming “to […]
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 […]
Putin urges ‘compromise’ ahead of new Syria peace talks
by Maria Panina Agence France-Presse SOCHI, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that efforts to end Syria’s six-year war were entering “a new stage” ahead of a planned meeting of Syrian government officials and opposition leaders, warning both sides that compromise would be necessary. The new talks should happen soon, Putin said after a summit with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, insisting that they would reinvigorate a hobbled peace process. […]
Duterte says “it would be good” for countries to “reach out” to North Korea’s Kim, assure him “nobody is after (him)”
(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said several countries could “reach out” to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and assure him that “nobody was after (him).” In a press conference in Davao prior to his departure for his three-day working visit in Japan, President Duterte said in particular, “it would be good if America, Japan, (South) Korea and Mr. Kim Jong Un talk to convince him to sit down on a roundtable. He […]
North Korea dismisses South’s talks offer: Yonhap
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea dismissed offers of talks from the South during a rare exchange between the two rivals’ foreign ministers, Seoul’s Yonhap news agency reported Monday after the UN imposed a new round of sanctions on nuclear-armed Pyongyang. News of the brief encounter on the sidelines of a regional forum in Manila came as the South’s President Moon Jae-In urged a “peaceful resolution” to the tensions in a telephone conversation with […]





