Three top North Korean military officials were removed from their posts just eight days ahead of the summit meeting between dictator Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump. Analysts see the shakeup as an effort to demonstrate Kim’s mastery over hardline elements in his military and send a positive signal to the United States.
North Korea is continuing to carry out military drills despite ongoing peace negotiations with South Korea and the United States, according to a report Thursday from South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday to meet with his opposite number, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho. Lavrov also met with dictator Kim Jong-un and invited him to visit Moscow for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
North Korean media reported on Wednesday that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will “soon” visit Pyongyang for a meeting with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho. The Russian Foreign Ministry subsequently announced that Lavrov would make the trip on Thursday, following up on an invitation Ri issued in early April.
According to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un remains fully committed to denuclearization, provided the United States supplies the necessary security guarantees. North Korean media, on the other hand, arrogantly declared on Monday that denuclearization will happen on Pyongyang’s “timetable,” no matter what “others may say and wherever wind may blow from.”
Japan expressed support for U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision this week to cancel the planned summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, pledging that Tokyo intends to keep up pressure on the rogue regime over its nuclear and missiles programs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted President Donald Trump on Thursday for canceling his June 12 summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, insisting that Kim “did everything he promised in advance.”
South Korean President Moon Jae-in encouraged U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un on Friday to speak directly and resolve the diplomatic standoff that culminated with President Trump’s canceling his June 12 summit with Kim.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told Breitbart News on Thursday night that if North Korea is serious in its response to President Donald Trump canceling their summit, then the White House looks forward to hearing from the highest levels of the North Korean government.
Even as journalists trudge toward North Korea’s much-touted decommissioning of the nuclear weapons test site at Punggye-ri, nuclear weapons experts are worried the regime is using the media event to bank unearned international credibility while it destroys evidence of its illicit weapons research.
An editorial in North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun on Tuesday blasted human rights complaints by the United States as a “red herring” and “trite trick” to delegitimize the noble regime of Kim Jong-un.
North Korean media warned citizens this week to cherish their “independence” and “self-reliance” instead of seeking prosperity through trade with “imperialist” nations a few days after President Donald Trump promised North Korea would become “very rich” if it strikes a good denuclearization deal with the United States.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in discussed North Korea’s recent behavior with President Donald Trump in a 20-minute phone conversation on Sunday. According to South Korea’s presidential Blue House, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to work together for a successful summit between the U.S. and North Korea in June.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is scheduled to visit Washington on Tuesday for a meeting with President Donald Trump to discuss North Korea policy.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang appeared to chide North Korea for threatening to pull out of the planned summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.
English translations of the North Korean editorials that implied dictator Kim Jong-un might withdraw from his June summit with President Donald Trump reveal North Korea was infuriated by long-scheduled U.S.-South Korean military drills. The North Koreans denounced these exercises as a “deliberate military provocation” and rejected criticism of North Korea’s human rights violations as a “senseless act of disregarding elementary etiquette.”
Appearing on Fox News Sunday this weekend, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States will “provide security assurances” to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un at his summit with President Donald Trump in June, including a promise not to overthrow the Kim regime.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry reportedly accused U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration of engaging in a “dangerous attempt” to ruin the mood of the prospective Korean detente with “misleading” claims that it is the main driver behind the potential denuclearization of the peninsula. North Korea argues that dictator Kim Jong-un is the sole force pushing the regime to the negotiating table.
An unidentified source told CNN on Tuesday that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has tentatively agreed to meet with President Donald Trump, and there is a “strong possibility” the summit will be held in late May in Panmunjom – the same “peace village” on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where Kim met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last Friday.
If people are really serious about world peace, the solution is to “ban all weapons,” Pope Francis said in a tweet this week.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday afternoon that he has proposed the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea as a potential location for a U.S.-North Korea denuclearization summit.
National Security Adviser John Bolton discussed nuclear negotiations with North Korea on Sunday’s edition of Face the Nation on CBS.
At their historic summit meeting in Panmunjom on Friday, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced they would work for the “complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula” and formally end the Korean War after 55 years.
Final preparations were completed Thursday in the border village of Panmunjom for Friday’s summit meeting between North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
According to South Korean news reports, North Korean propaganda has told its citizens that the summits are not grave discussions of denuclearization, but rather a triumphant Kim Jong-un’s formal welcome into the global nuclear power club.
New details of the meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Mike Pompeo, newly confirmed secretary of state, came out in a Thursday morning Fox and Friends live phone interview with President Donald Trump.
At a joint news conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said the United States is “fighting very diligently” to secure the freedom of three Americans held by North Korea.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday that North Korea has dropped its long-standing demand for American forces to withdraw completely from the Korean peninsula as a condition for denuclearization.
The Washington Post brings up an embarrassing little detail that may need to be cleared up before the historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un can take place: Kim may not have an airplane capable of crossing the Pacific to attend a meeting in Europe, at least not without an embarrassing number of refueling stops.
President Donald Trump updated the American people about the upcoming talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, signaling on Twitter that peace was possible.
Preparations for the still-unconfirmed meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un are moving ahead, as the South Korean government said on Friday it is working to expedite both a summit with North Korea and a meeting between Trump and President Moon Jae-in. Meanwhile, North Korea’s Foreign Minister was spotted in Sweden, prompting speculation that he was doing advance work for Trump and Kim to meet there.
Keeping maximum pressure on North Korea was again a topic of discussion during Vice President Mike Pence’s closed-door meetings on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
In an editorial published by the state-run Global Times on Friday, China refused to be “marginalized” as U.S. President Donald Trump considers direct talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
South Korean envoys are talking about their meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang this week, a conference that climaxed as Kim supposedly indicated he is prepared to discuss denuclearization in a face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
On the day President Donald Trump took office, he determined the need for a new approach to the denuclearization of North Korea that avoided mistakes of the past, a senior administration official told reporters on Thursday night.
Vice President Mike Pence is reaffirming United States’ unrelenting commitment to exercise maximum pressure on North Korea until the regime produces “credible verifiable, and concrete steps toward denuclearization.”
The U.S. State Department announced new sanctions against North Korea on Tuesday that are directly tied to the February 2017 murder of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of dictator Kim Jong-un.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday urged the United States and North Korea to lower their conditions for negotiations to take place.
The White House and State Department revealed on Tuesday that North Korean officials offered to meet with Vice President Mike Pence during the Winter Olympics in South Korea, but retracted their offer at the last minute after Pence condemned North Korea’s human rights violations.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in gave a press conference on Wednesday in which he said President Donald Trump “deserves big credit for bringing about the inter-Korean talks” that were held this week.
