Tag Archives: North Korea

Kim Jong-un finally emerged back onto the world stage earlier this week after a 20-day absence, which led to much speculation about his health and well-being. The weeks of speculation about the North Korean dictator’s health brought home an alarming fact: no one really knows who will control North Korea …

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has died, according to a leading Hong Kong television channel Hong Kong Satellite Television (HKSTV). A vice director of HKSTV reported the news on Saturday, citing a “solid source”. Her post first appeared on the Chinese messaging app Weibo, according to the International Business …

North Korean media hasn’t mentioned Kim’s health or whereabouts, even though other media have sparked international speculation about his well-being. Kim Jong Un may be dead, according to a Hong Kong broadcast network, while a Japanese magazine is reporting that the North Korean dictator is in a “vegetative state” after …

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has made religious freedom a centerpiece of his foreign policy, met on Wednesday with victims of religious persecution from countries like China, Turkey, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar. Trump counts evangelical Christians among his core supporters and the State Department is hosting a conference on …

by Graham E. Fuller – If the rise of strong new powers like China poses a challenge to the older US-dominated geopolitical order, what about about the converse? The challenge to the international order created by a declining and erratic great power ever more at odds with an emerging new …

Russia and North Korea were among the countries this week using speeches at the United Nations General Assembly to attack U.S. foreign policy and call on President Trump to change tactics on a host of issues. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, known for his fiery rhetoric, used his speech at …

Jay Y. Lee, Samsung’s billionaire chief, is one of nearly a dozen business leaders traveling to Pyongyang with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday, according to a statement from the president’s office. Moon will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during the visit — the first trip …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Russia on Friday of actively working to undermine international sanctions on North Korea and said the enforcement of the steps was essential to convince Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons. “Russia has actively attempted to undermine the U.N. Security Council resolutions, the …

US President Donald Trump on Friday pulled the plug on a weekend trip to North Korea by his top diplomat, while taking a swipe at China over efforts to disarm the nuclear state. “I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to go to North Korea, at this time, …

A confidential UN report has accused North Korea of continuing to develop nuclear and missile programs in violation of international sanctions. The report, provided to CNN by a UN source on Friday, was prepared by independent experts who submit their findings every six months to the UN North Korea Sanctions …

by Graham E. Fuller   The fascinating, elaborately choreographed diplomatic pas de deux in Singapore between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un mesmerized the world over two days. Most pundits look at the (perhaps more than) half empty glass of water on the table. Indeed, most Democrats and all Trump-haters …

North Korea’s top three military officials have been removed from their posts, a senior U.S. official said, a move analysts said on Monday could support efforts by the North’s young leader to jump-start economic development and engage with the world. Kim Jong Un is preparing for a high-stakes summit with …

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he plans to visit North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, North Korean state media reported on Sunday, potentially the first meeting between Kim and another head of state in Pyongyang. “I am going to visit the DPRK and meet HE Kim Jong Un,” Assad said …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s cancellation of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatens further strain on U.S.-China ties amid a trade dispute that had been intertwined with Beijing’s pressure on isolated Pyongyang. The United States and China are also increasingly at odds in the disputed South China …

President Donald Trump on Friday said the date and location have been set for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which would be announced soon, and hinted at progress in winning the release of three Americans held in North Korea. The White House has said the first …

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will shut down his nuclear test site in May and invite experts and journalists from South Korea and the United States into the country to ensure “transparency” around its closure, South Korea’s presidential office said Sunday. It is the latest breakthrough on the peninsula …

Friday’s summit between the leaders of North and South Korea was a “historic meeting” paving the way for the start of a new era, North Korea’s media say. The North’s Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in of South Korea agreed to work to rid the peninsula of nuclear weapons. The official …

The U.S. Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state on Thursday, and the former CIA director set off immediately on a trip to meet key allies in Europe and the Middle East. Pompeo, a former Army officer who was a Republican congressman, is regarded as a …

President Trump was watching television on Sunday when he saw Nikki R. Haley, his ambassador to the United Nations, announce that he would impose fresh sanctions on Russia. The president grew angry, according to an official informed about the moment. As far as he was concerned, he had decided no such thing. …

US President Donald Trump named ultra hardline Fox News pundit and former UN ambassador John Bolton as his new national security advisor Thursday, ousting embattled army general HR McMaster. McMaster’s exit is the latest in a string of high-profile departures from the White House that started with national security advisor …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD*   Attended a very interesting lecture the other day with a deceptively simple title: “The Dynamics of the Indo-Pacific Region: The Challenges and Opportunities for Japan”, by Professor Satoru Mori from the Hosei University in Tokyo, Japan. (Faculty of Law, Department of Global Politics; little …

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised to not use nuclear or conventional weapons against South Korea and expressed willingness to hold talks with the United States on denuclearization, Seoul said on Tuesday after a rare two-day visit to Pyongyang. The Hermit Kingdom added that it’s willing to give up …

North Korea has reportedly sent ballistic missile and chemical weapons components to Syria in violation of United Nations sanctions, according to a draft of a new report authored by U.N. experts that has been viewed by several news organizations. According to the 200-page report, expected to go public in mid-March, …

by Graham E. Fuller Over the years “containment” has been a key US political instrument by which it has sought to isolate, starve out, or excommunicate from the “international community” regimes unwilling to accept the US-dominated world order. Yet the great irony today is that this very US policy of …

North Korea shipped coal to Russia last year which was then delivered to South Korea and Japan in a likely violation of U.N. sanctions, three Western European intelligence sources said. The U.N. Security Council banned North Korean exports of coal last Aug. 5 under sanctions intended to cut off an …

A group of North Korean citizens living in Japan called the Chongryon have proposed sending a cheer squad to the upcoming Pyeongchang Olympics. According to sources close to the group, the Chongryon cheer delegation is set to be around 170 people and may expand if they receive many applicants, Yonhap reported. According to …

For much of the world, it’s a niche product. In North Korea, where winter temperatures are frigid and which cannot produce enough cotton or wool for clothing, the synthetic fibre developed after nylon was glorified as a revolutionary invention. Known outside North Korea as vinylon, it was christened “vinalon” by …

A North Korean missile test went embarrassingly wrong for the rogue nation, according to a report. A U.S. government source says that a 2017 rocket launch failed and crashed into one of the country’s own cities. According to the Japanese magazine The Diplomat, North Korea’s test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) on April …

Last Updated Jan 2, 2018 7:10 PM EST U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley addressed the deadly protests in Iran and the North Korea nuclear threat on Tuesday at the United Nations. Haley said the U.N. “must speak” on the issue and that the U.S. will call for emergency sessions in the coming days. “The …

South Korea on Tuesday offered talks with North Korea amid a standoff over its weapons programs, a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was open to negotiations but that his country would push ahead with “mass producing” nuclear warheads. The offer for high-level talks next Tuesday …

South Korean authorities have seized a Panama-flagged vessel suspected of transferring oil products to North Korea in violation of international sanctions, a customs official said on Sunday. The seizure was the second to be revealed by South Korea within a few days, as the United Nations steps up efforts to …

Russian tankers have supplied fuel to North Korea on at least three occasions in recent months by transferring cargoes at sea, according to two senior Western European security sources, providing an economic lifeline to the secretive Communist state. The sales of oil or oil products from Russia, the world’s second …

The United States announced sanctions on two of North Korea’s most prominent officials behind its ballistic missile program on Tuesday, while Russia reiterated an offer to mediate to ease tension between Washington and Pyongyang. The new U.S. steps were the latest in a campaign aimed at forcing North Korea – …

The latest U.N. sanctions against North Korea are an act of war and tantamount to a complete economic blockade against the country, North Korea’s foreign ministry said on Sunday, threatening to punish those who supported the measure. The U.N. Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Friday …

The millions of Chinese nationals who travel across the world carry enormous clout. Investors in South Korea just got another painful reminder. Stocks in South Korea sensitive to developments with neighbor China fell Wednesday, lagging the benchmark Kospi index, which was mostly flat at 11:25 a.m. HK/SIN. Those so-called THAAD-related …

The Trump administration on Monday evening publicly acknowledged that North Korea was behind the WannaCry computer worm that affected more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries earlier this year. As a result, the administration will be calling on “all responsible states” to counter North Korea’s ability to conduct cyberattacks …

The U.S. agency tasked with protecting the country from missile attacks is scouting the West Coast for places to deploy new anti-missile defenses, two Congressmen said on Saturday, as North Korea’s missile tests raise concerns about how the United States would defend itself from an attack. West Coast defenses would likely include Terminal High Altitude …

H.R. McMaster, President Trump’s national security adviser, said Saturday that the possibility of war with North Korea increases every day the problem over its nuclear program isn’t solved. “I think it’s increasing every day,” McMaster told Fox News’ Bret Baier at the Reagan National Security Forum in California. “It means …

North Korea said Wednesday it successfully launched a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking “the whole mainland of the U.S.,” claiming the isolated nation has achieved its goal of becoming a nuclear state. The ICBM, called the Hwasong-15, appears to be the longest-range missile ever tested by the North. The …

Closer ties between two of the world’s most acute political powder kegs — North Korea and Syria — are fanning fears of deeper cooperation on missile technology and chemical weapons. The longstanding bilateral relationship, which stretches back to the late 1960s, has prospered this year even as both countries face international sanctions. Syrian minister …

President Donald Trump put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism on Monday, a designation that allows the United States to impose more sanctions and risks inflaming tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. The Republican president, who has traded personal insults with North Korean …

The top U.S. nuclear commander said Saturday he would push back against President Trump if he ordered a nuclear launch the general believed to be “illegal,” saying he would look to find another solution. Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), told an audience at …

North Korea is on “an aggressive schedule to build and deploy its first operational ballistic missile submarine”, according to an analysis of new satellite images by the expert website 38 North. The images represent a powerful reminder that, as well as developing inter-continental range ballistic missiles launched from land, North …

Pyongyang hopes to rekindle a Cold War-era friendship. Korean Central News Agency announced Friday that North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and his delegation will be traveling to Cuba, in hopes of revamping international support amid sanctions and widespread condemnation of Pyongyang’s nuclear missile tests. The Washington Post reported that …