President Trump says US team in North Korea planning summit with Kim
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said Sunday a U.S. team was in North Korea to plan a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jon Un, raising expectations that the on-off-on meeting would indeed take place.The State Department said earlier that a team was in Panmunjom, which straddles the border inside the demilitarized zone, or DMZ, separating the North and South Korea.
North Korea's Kim meets with South's Moon for 2nd time
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met for the second time in a month on Saturday to discuss carrying out the peace commitments they reached in their first summit and Kim's potential meeting with President Donald Trump, Moon's office said.South Korean presidential spokesman Yoon Young-chan said Moon will reveal the outcome of his surprise meeting with Kim on Sunday.
President Trump cancels summit, citing 'open hostility' by North Korea
WASHINGTON — In a dramatic diplomatic turn, President Donald Trump on Thursday called off next month's summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, calling the cancellation a "tremendous setback" for peace and stressing that the US military was ready to respond to any "foolish or reckless acts" by the North.President Trump first announced his decision in a letter to Kim released by the White House, in which he cited "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement by the North, adding that it was "inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting."Speaking at the White House later, President Trump said a "maximum pressure campaign" will continue against North Korea and that he was "waiting" should Kim choose to engage in "constructive" actions.He added that it was "possible that the existing summit could take place or a summit at some later date."
Foreign media depart on train for North Korean nuclear site
WONSAN, North Korea — A group of foreign journalists departed by train Wednesday to watch the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear test site after eight reporters from South Korea received last-minute permission to join them.The remote site deep in the mountains of the North's sparsely populated northeast interior is expected to have a formal closing ceremony in the next day or two, depending on the weather.
Secretary of State Pompeo: Fate of US-North Korea summit rests with Kim Jong Un
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday he's "very hopeful" that a planned U.S.-North Korean summit will proceed but laid the fate of the historic meeting squarely with Kim Jong Un, who won't be reassured by U.S. demands for "rapid denuclearization."The decision about whether the June 12 meeting in Singapore between Kim and President Donald Trump happens is "ultimately up to Chairman Kim," Pompeo told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
President Trump suggests summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un could be delayed
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that a planned historic meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un could be delayed.
Pres. Trump: US hasn't been notified about threat to cancel summit
WASHINGTON — Amid fresh uncertainty over his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump Wednesday said that he is committed to pressing for the country to abandon its nuclear program as part of any meeting.North Korea threatened earlier in the day to scrap the historic summit between President Trump and Kim, saying it has no interest in a "one-sided" affair meant to pressure the North to abandon its nuclear weapons.
North Korea: No interest in US summit if it's based on '1-sided' demands to give up nukes
NORTH KOREA — North Korea's first vice foreign minister says the country has no interest in a summit with the United States if it's going to be a "one-sided" affair where it's pressured to give up its nukes.The statement by Kim Kye Gwan on Wednesday came hours after the North abruptly canceled a high-level meeting with South Korea and threatened to do the same with a planned summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump next month.Kim Kye Gwan criticized recent comments by President Trump's top security adviser John Bolton and other U.S. officials who have been talking about how the North should follow the "Libyan model" of nuclear disarmament and provide a "complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement."He also criticized other U.S. comments that the North should completely abandon not only its nukes and missiles but also its biological and chemical weapons.Kim says: "We will appropriately respond to the Trump administration if it approaches the North Korea-U.S. summit meeting with a truthful intent to improve relations."He adds: "But we are no longer interested in a negotiation that will be all about driving us into a corner and making a one-sided demand for us to give up our nukes and this would force us to reconsider whether we would accept the North Korea-U.S. summit meeting."Some analysts say bringing up Libya, which dismantled its rudimentary nuclear program in the 2000s in exchange for sanctions relief, would risk derailing any progress in negotiations with the NorthKim Jong Un took power weeks after former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's gruesome death at the hands of rebel forces amid a popular uprising in October 2011.
Pres. Trump welcomes N. Korea plan to blow up nuke-site tunnels
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Saturday that it will dismantle its nuclear test site in less than two weeks, in a dramatic event that would set up leader Kim Jong Un's summit with President Donald Trump next month.
N. Korea to blow up nuke-site tunnels before Trump-Kim talks
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Saturday that it will dismantle its nuclear test site in less than two weeks, in a dramatic event that would set up leader Kim Jong Un's summit with President Donald Trump next month.In a statement carried by state media, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said that all of the tunnels at the country's northeastern testing ground will be destroyed by explosion, and that observation and research facilities and ground-based guard units will also be removed.Kim had already revealed plans to shut down the test site by the end of May during his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month.
President Trump to greet North Korea detainees upon return to US
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump is set to greet three Americans who were detained in North Korea when they return to the U.S. early Thursday.President Trump is promising "quite a scene" at a middle-of-the-night arrival ceremony outside Washington.
Detainees freed in North Korea, returning to US with Secretary of State Pompeo
WASHINGTON — Three Americans detained in North Korea for more than a year are on their way back to the U.S. with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday in the latest sign of improving relations between the two longtime adversary nations.
North Korea says US ruining mood of detente ahead of summit
PYONGYANG, North Korea — With just weeks to go before President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are expected to hold their first-ever summit, Pyongyang on Sunday criticized what it called "misleading" claims that President Trump's policy of maximum political pressure and sanctions are what drove the North to the negotiating table.The North's official news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman warning the claims are a "dangerous attempt" to ruin a budding detente on the Korean Peninsula after Kim's summit late last month with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.At the summit, Kim agreed to a number of measures aimed at improving North-South ties and indicated he is willing to discuss the denuclearization of the peninsula, though exactly what that would entail and what conditions the North might require have not yet been explained.President Trump and senior U.S. officials have suggested repeatedly that Washington's tough policy toward North Korea, along with pressure on its main trading partner China, have played a decisive role in turning around what had been an extremely tense situation.
North Korea adjusts time zone to match South's as ties warm
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea readjusted its time zone to match South Korea's on Saturday and described the change as an early step toward making the longtime rivals "become one" following a landmark summit.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised to sync his country's time zone with the South's during his April 27 talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
President Trump says date, venue set for North Korea summit
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that the time and place have been set for his landmark meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un — but kept the world guessing for now about the when and where.President Trump also said that withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea was "not on the table" as he looks to get Kim to give up his nukes at what will be the first summit of between a U.S. and a North Korean leader.The New York Times reported that President Trump has asked the Pentagon to prepare plans for scaling back the U.S. military presence in the allied Asian nation.
Pres. Trump: Location, date for Kim meeting could be revealed soon
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the date and location for what will be a historic meeting between a sitting American president and the leader of North Korea over denuclearization could be announced by the end of the week.President Trump has previously said the meeting with Kim Jong Un will be held by the end of May or early June.
North Korea offers to give up nukes if US vows not to attack
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told his South Korean counterpart at their historic summit that he would be willing to give up his nuclear weapons if the U.S. commits to a formal end to the Korean War and a pledge not to attack the North, Seoul officials said Sunday.Kim also vowed during his meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday to shut down the North's nuclear test site in May and disclose the process to experts and journalists from South Korea and the United States, Seoul's presidential office said.While there are lingering questions about whether North Korea will ever decide to fully relinquish its nukes as it heads into negotiations with the U.S., Kim's comments amount to the North's most specific acknowledgement yet that "denuclearization" would constitute surrendering its weapons.U.S. national security adviser John Bolton reacted coolly to word that Kim would abandon his weapons if the United States pledged not to invade.Asked on CBS' "Face the Nation" whether the U.S. would make such a promise, Bolton said: "Well, we've heard this before.
President Trump calls Asian allies to discuss North Korea
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump says he's had "a long and very good talk" with the South Korean president, who's just had a historic meeting with North Korea's leader.With anticipation growing for a possible U.S.-North Korean summit soon, President Trump tweets Saturday that "things are going very well, time and location" of meeting with Kim Jong Un are being set.
'Otto was taken hostage:' Parents sue North Korea over death of detainee Otto Warmbier
WASHINGTON — The parents of U.S. college student Otto Warmbier filed a wrongful death lawsuit against North Korea on Thursday, saying its government tortured and killed their son.Fred and Cindy Warmbier filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking compensation for the death of the 22-year-old, whose plight had compounded tense U.S.-North Korean relations.Otto Warmbier, who was a student at University of Virginia, was arrested by North Korean authorities in January 2016 for stealing a propaganda poster and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor.
Pres. Trump says North Korea has made nuclear concessions before talks
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that North Korea's Kim Jong Un has made nuclear weapons concessions before even sitting down for talks, while the U.S. hasn't given up anything.President Trump's assertions came before Friday's summit between North Korea and South Korea that's expected to pave the way for a historic meeting between President Trump and Kim in May or June.President Trump told "Fox & Friends" that his tough approach toward the North, and now his willingness to engage with Kim, had reduced the risk of nuclear war.